Randy Napoleon

Exclusive Interview ** added 27th July, 2006 **

Randy kindly allowed me to interview him in Paris during Michael's recent European Tour. The transcript of the interview is in 3 parts.

Part 1 of the interview appears below.

Part 2 of the interview is available exclusively on the Bubléband Forum - the interview is listed under the "Randy Napoleon" section of the Forum. You will need to Register to access the Forum.

In Part 2, you can read about how Randy joined Michael's band, what his favourite part of Michael's concert is, how he felt about stepping into the breach for Rob Wilkerson on the first night of Michael's 2006 Valentines' Weekend concerts in Las Vegas taking part in the "fashion show" part of the concert, etc.

Part 3 of the interview has yet to be concluded but will be available soon exclusively on the Bubléband Forum.

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Part 1 - Zenith du Paris - Monday, 22nd May, 2006

Vera:        What's your date of birth?
Randy:     May 30th, 1977.

Vera:        Where were you born?
Randy:     Brooklyn, New York

Vera:        Where do you currently reside?
Randy:     Manhattan[, New York].

Vera:        What's a typical day in the life of Randy Napoleon like on tour with
                Michael?
Randy:     Oh boy! There are two kinds of days. There are show days and
                days off. Days off are very popular with the band. Most cities we
                go we just try to find some good food to eat and see the sights
                and stuff. You know, a lot of times we'll wake up at the venue so I
                just practice pretty much all day. I practice and I'll do some
                business on my computer and then we'll do a soundcheck and do
                the show and that's it.

Vera:        And a typical day when you're not touring with Michael?
Randy:     I practice and work on my own music. And I play a lot of little gigs
                around New York. Play video games with my roommates. Hang out.

Vera:        At what age did you start learning to play the guitar?
Randy:     When I was 13.

Vera:        And what type of guitar was that?
Randy:     My first guitar was an electric guitar. I really loved Jimi Hendrix and
                Led Zeppelin and stuff like that but then I got more interested in jazz.

Vera:        On stage you have three guitars with you …
Randy:     Right.

Vera:        What's the difference between the three of them and on which songs
                do you play which guitar?
Randy:     OK. Great question. There are three guitars – one is my D'Angelico
                which is – that's the guitar I play on most of my own gigs. That's the
                traditional jazz guitar. It's called an F-hole archtop guitar.

Vera:        Is that the blue guitar?
Randy:     That's the blue guitar, yeh. Those kinds of guitars have a relatively
                darker sound than the flat top acoustic guitar I use for "Save The Last
                Dance". That makes it ideal for playing jazz and also a little bit easier
                to amplify than a roundhole acoustic guitar. And then there's the
                Stratocaster just for rocking out.

Vera:        So how is all the equipment transported from venue to venue?
Randy:     I carry my D'Angelico with me because I own that one and the other
                two are rentals so they travel with the crew and the rest of the gear.

Vera:        So, for example, for the European tour?
Randy:     Well, they shipped it over on a boat. All our speakers …

Vera:        So the other two are from the States?
Randy:     Yes.

Vera:        You've recorded your debut album, "Enjoy The Moment". Are you in
                the process of recording your second album?
Randy:     Yeh, I'm hoping to have something out in September and I'm still …
                need to finish some stuff, still cleaning up some final business-type
                stuff. I'm really hoping that I will have something soon.

Vera:        You recorded a CD with Josh [Brown] recently?
Randy:     I'm excited about that one too.

Vera:        Has that actually been released yet?
Randy:     No. Same sort of thing, you'll have to check with Josh on that one.
                Hopefully we'll get that out soon too.

Vera:        Whose idea or whose decision was it to create "The Boathouse All-
                Stars"?
Randy:     I guess we all wanted to do it. I mean we all play together in a lot of
                different situations informally and we just we like to play music as our
                actual job and our hobby … so that's another thing we like to do on
                our days off - we'll find a local jazz club and crash it and try and sit in
                with the local musicians and play. So it's good that we like to play and
                the show is wonderful but it's nice to play other stuff to keep
                ourselves strong, and creatively fresh.

Vera:       So are you planning any more of The Boathouse All-Star gigs?
Randy:    Well,  yeah  … small combinations of the group. I think we'll do more
               playing.

Vera:       Technically, which is the most difficult song of Michael's to play?
Randy:    Oh wow … on guitar? I guess everything has its challenge. I don't
               think any of the material is super hard but to play anything right is
               hard, to play it perfectly. A lot of what I think about in this band is
               really nailing tempos and just an overall evenness of touch on the
               instrument. It's not like I'm playing anything super fast or a lot of
               guitar hero stuff in the show. It's about getting the details right.

Vera:       What's your academic training and professional background?
Randy:    I went to Music School – University of Michigan, for 4 years.

Vera:       Hard work?
Randy:    It was fun … not like school

Vera:       An Undergraduate Degree and then a Masters? or …
Randy:    I didn't do any of that, no. I just got an undergrad …  actually, I had
               some gigs right before I finished college so I didn't technically
               graduate. I'm shy of one credit.

Vera:       That's the sort of thing that's really interesting because some of the
               guys [in the band] they do have Masters Degrees …
Randy:    Yeh, that's true …

Vera:       But if you balance out experience …
Randy:    Yeah, I mean … no one really cares in terms of playing. People hire you
               for how you play and paper doesn't matter. So school is really just
               about what you can take from it. I got a lot out of school. I learnt a lot,
               I had good teachers and it was great for me but the piece of paper is
               not what helped me. It's more just the experience of learning. And
               then I was really excited to get to New York, jump into the mix and play
               with musicians much better than myself. So that was really the best
               graduate school for me – going to New York.

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