Valerie Sassyfras
Never before has a Sound Check subject come with quite their own signature style, but Valerie Sassyfras is used to skirting the rules. Her high-kick studded, family-friendly, alt-punk, Cajun-inspired performances have earned her a permanent place in New Orleans lore. “Sassyfras Style” is equal parts fitness, fun, sparkles, mandolin, audacity, and accordion. The America’s Got Talent alum and I met at the S. Derbigny Hey! Cafe on a hazy Saturday afternoon. Sassyfras reminisced, asked as many questions as she answered, and ended with, “We should play a show together!” As we were ordering coffee, before I had the chance to start in on my questions or even pull up a chair, Sassyfras jumped in.
I actually grew up in this neighborhood, Broadmoor, from about 5 years old through high school, so about 13 years on Louisiana Avenue. I went to [Andrew H.] Wilson Elementary, which was on Napoleon, somewhere down here. There are people I grew up with who still live in this neighborhood.
I was an odd child, always doing my own artsy thing, mostly ignored. I think it’s why I relate to artists who do things a little differently.
Your brain was singing at an early age. You were being creative. You didn’t have a teacher who said to your parents, “We have to develop this?”
Not exactly. But I did have music teachers pretty young.
I started at 8, I think, and learned scales. I had to play them every week. I had a teacher who used to live on the block. Unfortunately, I had a chance to see her before she passed and I didn’t take it. I was such a stupid kid. At the time, I didn’t even know why I was learning them. Now I know you gotta know what to play in each key. I’m glad I learned it as a kid. As an adult, it’s not that it’s too late, ‘cause you can do anything as long as you’re alive, but it’s harder. It takes me longer to learn a song now.
How often do you teach yourself new songs?
Constantly. I’ve been learning a period at a time. Right now I’m learning ‘90s and 2000s hip-hop songs. My brain was in overdrive trying to learn them. My favorite is “Whatta Man” [by Salt-N-Pepa] because I love the way the words flow in that. They’re all a good subject, they’re all praising the guy instead of putting him down. “What a mighty, mighty good man.” There’s some really cute lines in there that only women could write, so that’s my favorite of those right now. “He takes his time and does everything right / Knocks me out with one shot for the rest of the night.” It’s hard ‘cause all the words run together and it’s really fast and you gotta really know them so it flows right. It’s 12 verses!
How do you learn all the chords and all the words for so many tunes?
I don’t always. Recently, I did a baby shower and there’s a song by the Backstreet Boys where the bridge goes from A to A flat and I’m on the mandolin and I’m like, “Fuck A flat. I’m not gonna learn it.” So I just stayed on the A and nobody noticed. I went around the room with my mandolin. I wasn’t even amplified but I didn’t need to be ‘cause it was just me and everyone was paying attention. There was even a bit of an echo, because of the floors, a natural reverb in there. You know what else I’ve done? I’ve stolen a whole song and just changed one chord out of the whole thing. It’s a Steve Earle song I ripped off, except for one chord. It’s mostly just three chords, 1-4-5, but it’s the way the rhythm is and the way it’s put together. I had to use it. It would be an honor to be sued by Steve Earle.
So, primarily, you play mandolin and accordion?
I’m not big on breathy things like harmonica and all of that, ‘cause it just takes too much out of me. I want to be able to sing. I’m dancing around. I’m doing enough already, so, yeah. I wanted to play guitar originally but I can’t get my hands around even a kiddy guitar.
Can I see your hands? They’re even smaller than mine and mine are tiny too. I look ridiculous on bass.
But you’ve been playing since you were a kid. That’s the difference. I can’t do it now but since I played piano as a kid, I can still do octaves on it. I don’t play it that much anymore, except when I’m writing. But at home, when I’m working, I still play it. And it translates to the accordion. Alright, let’s get this gear stuff out of the way.
Let’s! Can we start with wireless mics?
For my mandolin setup and my vocal setup, they’re both Shures. I used to have something different for my mandolin and it was fine for a little while but it just wasn’t durable. You plug this [WA302 cable] into the mandolin and I clip [the transmitter] on the strap. It’s an [acoustic-]electric [Morgan Monroe F-style] mandolin. It’s a battery pack, two AAs. Three-hour gigs would be my longest so it’s good through all of that. I generally change it out for every gig. I always carry batteries on me. The [Shure SM35] is my vocal [headset] microphone. I put the ear piece on my right side and then it goes into a [Shure BLX4 wireless] receiver.
What about the accordion?
The accordion is wireless too. It’s a Hohner 12 bass accordion and it’s got an AMT [Quantum 7 True Diversity wireless system] unit which plugs into this metal piece here that goes across the accordion and it uses one AA battery. The sound comes out of these front vents, so I have two microphones for the mid and high ranges. This little small box is the receiver for the accordion.
And when it comes to speakers, those are pretty standard, so I imagine you’ve got JBLs?
JBL [EON712] 12-inch powered speakers. I can’t lift ’em up, so if I can afford to hire someone for a gig, they’ll be on stands. If I can’t, they’ll be on the ground. The little Roland CUBE[-01] amp is great for small shows.
And it’s gotta be tricky to add in projections with all of that too.
It all fits in the car. The computer sits on top of the rack. I have an 1/8 inch cable that plugs directly into the computer from inside that wire rack that’s going into a DI box inside the case. I plug that into the wall and if I do the projector, that goes out of the computer too, so I use a dongle that goes out of the computer to the HDMI cable, to the projector, and then you’ve got your videos. It’s very user friendly. If I can work it, it’s user friendly.
When did you begin incorporating that?
When I started thinking that just me isn’t enough. People want more. It’s a visual world now. One of my consiglieres suggested a projection screen and from then on, every time I did a new album, I had videos made for each album. This last one was really intensive because I did a workout album [Sassercise] so I have videos that are out on YouTube with explanations of the exercises and live performance videos with no vocals ‘cause I’m singing live and then versions of the videos with just the music, so three versions of all of them. I have all the Sassercise videos on one playlist so you can go from one to another, the way I intended it.
Is it a good workout?
It is! And I’ve actually done it live, locally, at a studio called Anarchy Yoga. Next March I’m gonna be doing it at the Women in Rouge Festival [Rock & Rouge Women’s Music & Food Festival]. I’ll be doing two days of Sassercising. On February 1st at St. Roch Tavern, I play the beginning of the ‘tit Rəx parade—it’s a yearly thing. The parade starts at 4:30. I play 2:30 ‘til 5:30. Last time I played ‘til 6 and then my batteries ran out on the vocal mic, which never happens. The owners were like, “Why don’t you give it a break?”
Still from the “Let’s Get Stoned & Screw” Sassercise workout video
Three hours and counting and you outlasted your batteries!
I outlasted my batteries. I work out every day because I have to. It’s part of my job now. I have to take care of myself.
For decades, you had a partner, Johnny Donald, so you two took care of each other?
Johnny and I moved around and made our own community. We lived in Hattiesburg, Nashville, New York, St. Augustine… Clinton, Arkansas. Those were our happiest years ‘cause we had the money to buy two acres. We’d play flea markets, sell guitars and keyboards, and sit there and play them and play our CDs. We could make a living doing that. Johnny was a kind man. He knew how to make money. He knew how to promote himself but he was kind. He didn’t cheat his workers or any of that bullshit. When we got together, he was playing guitar, but he said, “If we start a band, I’ll learn all the string instruments,” so he did. He learned the steel guitar, the mandolin, the mandola, the bass, and the banjo. He was a rhythm guy, nothing fancy but beautiful rhythms, perfectly in time. Johnny was the perfect match for me. He knew how to put me on a pedestal and he knew how to cut me down a size, in one sentence. If I think “What would Johnny do?” that brings me back to center, ‘cause I’m always way out there.
Your music has taken you to some unusual places, so I just have to end by asking you about some of the people you’ve opened for and places you’ve played.
I opened for Marc Rebillet at the Orpheum. It was a really great reception. I got to meet him and we took a picture together. Two years before that, he was playing at Gasa Gasa with 200 people, there it was 2,000. I opened for Tank and the Bangas one time, Portugal. The Man at the Sugar Mill, Chicano and the Batman [Chicano Batman], been on News with a Twist a few times. Of course, I was on America’s Got Talent. I was on The Ellen [DeGeneres] Show three days in a row. I got AGT through that. I never would have stood in line just waiting for a chance, but it was still a lot of hoops. They didn’t pay you. They just gave you $25 a day for food, they paid for the hotel, and for the flight there and back, and same for my dancers. And the best was I got residuals through BMI ‘cause the song was on the show. Residuals are like getting paid for a gig you didn’t even remember you played.
For more info, check out valeriesassyfras.com.
Top and bottom photos: Valerie Sassyfras’ Horny & Lazy Christmas Spectacular at Banks Street Bar on December 17. (Photos by by Angela Calonder)
