Soul Coughing

Soul Coughing is an eclectic band. They have a different sound, a different outlook.Their most recognizable line from a song is “You take the ankles and I’ll take the wrists.” 

We sat down with drummer Yuval Gabay, and asked him to explain it to us… 

SLUG: How long has Soul Coughing been together?

YG: About three-and-a-half years now. 

SLUG: How did the band form exactly?

YG: We basically got together through [Mike] Doughty, who was a singer working at The Knitting Factory at the time and he saw us play there. We used to individually play a lot around town, especially at The Knitting Factory since there aren’t that many clubs in New York. He just asked us to do a gig and I said, “Well why don’t you ask this bass player I know, Sebastian [Steinberg]?” We didn’t really know one another before we started playing, and got together, did one rehearsal, then the next day did a gig. And after about maybe five to six months we started to see that we actually get some people coming in. Then we decided to form a band. Before it was just sort of like a light thing that you make fifty bucks if you’re lucky every once in awhile, once a week or whatever. 

SLUG: So was Doughty a beat poet first or was he always… 

YG: Not really, no. He don’t consider himself a beat poet period. Or used to or not influenced by it or whatever, he doesn’t like that beat poet.

SLUG: So he’s always been a guitar player.

YG: He’s been a guitar player and done singer-songwriter kind of stuff. I mean, he likes poetry himself, protected owner here. He just don’t like to be associated with beat poetry because he thinks that’s too much of a limited reason to take the whole of American poetry and put it into that little kettle right there.

SLUG: And obviously you feel the same way.

YG: Well, I’m more into the beat, so to me, the beat is the poetry.

SLUG: So how did you hook up with Slash then? Somebody just heard you guys in the club? 

YG: Yeah, we were doing a gig in CBGB’s Gallery, which is a place we used to do a weekly gig. We threw a party there every Wednesday and every Friday, where we just took over the evening basically and would bring somebody to screen, you know, like where they screen stuff on the wall like 8mm films. Another friend’s a DJ and we would rent a PA system and it was just like making a party.

SLUG: How did you get into drumming and modern music?

YG: I was playing drums, you know, basically as far [back] as I can remember. I came to New York about 11 years ago. Play with a million different people and do what I can to survive. Which mostly got to doing nothing with music, if you know what I mean. 

SLUG: Exactly. Most musicians are starving to death. 

YG:  Well one of the years, this was a different year, long state of bad happenings, a long one. But eventually I managed to survive on music … as the years passed by, you know, like every year maybe I gained another couple of weeks or months that I could actually survive on music. It was about ‘88, it was about four years later. That was the first year I actually made it from music. It was about eight months out of the year I would live on music and then four months would be a disaster. 

SLUG: So what’s the band going to be doing now?

YG: Well, we’re going to be rehearsing the next couple of weeks after in New York. We’re still working on a lot of new material. We’ve got a shitload of material and we try to work it to death. And then we’re going on tour in about three weeks for months. West Coast tour. 

SLUG: What kind of music influences do you guys have?

YG: Each one of us has his own little bag of influences that we bring to the band in a way. I mean Mark [De Gli Antoni], the keyboard player, he’s coming from the background, he went to school, he studied music and is more formally trained. He composed music, he writes music, he composed for orchestras. So I think he brings some of that with him. Besides, he grew up also in San Francisco so, you know, there is quite a music scene there. Sebastian grew up in Boston mainly. He’s got the San Francisco connection as well.

SLUG: And what about Doughty?

YT: Doughty was an army brat. He was tromping around with the family, many different places until they settled in West Point. He grew up all over the place, kind of. And like Sebastian, he’s one of those guys [with] amazing memory. Like, he hear a song he can probably play it to you. He’s got a real good memory. He’s played reggae and in the ‘70s he played funk. He’s the original original. It’s more like in that kind of direction of music, that’s where he’s coming from. He knows classical music as well. You know we’re all actually in a way very, very rounded. 

SLUG: What about you, what were your main influences?

YG: Kind of rock music with a twist … that’s basically what I grew on. Middle Eastern stuff and Moroccan music. Then, of course, there were The Beatles. So I grew through that period where you did go through the ‘70s, so I got that thing kind of in there. I listen to most so-called “ethnic music” from around the world. 

SLUG: Right and now they call it “world music”.

YG: No, “world music” is [a] bad, bad term. World music is where they take, like, original music from some like country and put a house beat underneath it. That’s world music. But I mean more like home music. People play it in their houses and parties and weddings. We listen to African music and Korean music and Moroccan and I’m really into a lot of different stuff like that. And I’m into Jungle music, we’re all into Jungle actually. We love Jungle music and basically anything that comes across is definitely good. Get[s] a good chance to be listened [to]. 

SLUG: Interesting combination for you guys.

YG: Yeah, very weird. We’re all very individual … like, in our taste and in our background and it’s very interesting. It’s not like  [a] “we grew up together” kind of band. We didn’t go to school together or anything. 

SLUG: What about popular music like stuff on the radio? Anything you like? 

YG: Oh, yeah, every once in a while there is a jewel coming across. Prince is a good old favorite. We just saw Prince in Minneapolis over the weekend. 

SLUG: Did you call him Prince? 

YG: No, we called him the The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.

SLUG: Did he know who you were? 

YG: I don’t think so. I mean, I have no idea. So I had sort of like a semi-private, not private, maybe 300 people in his sound stage, which is basically the club ,kind of live. The full work show, the costumes, they were kicking. Like private show kind of stuff. He’s got three recording studios and soundboards for videos and film. I mean, it’s a pretty big place. I hear he’s bankrupt, but it’s kind of hard for me to believe.

SLUG: Impossible.

YG: It sounds like an impossible thing, but he makes stupid movies and wastes a lot of money. 

SLUG: So it’s a good band. The best thing is the diversity?

YG: Yeah, we’re all really happy where we’re at. We’re happy doing this. It’s not like a gig. Naturally we put our soul into it and time and everything.

SLUG: It’s not like a job.

YG: It’s like a job, not like a job. We have a good grasp on expression. Each of us have a good expression. It’s good; if you only do one thing with the band you get bored. But we can do a lot of shit with it and it’s fine. So it works.

SLUG: Plus, you guys can go in any area you pretty much want to.

YG: Well that first record Ruby Vroom set it up a little bit like that.

SLUG: Right, as opposed to being a grunge band, you know, if you did something different everybody would say, “God what a crappy thing.” But since you did an album like that, you could go pretty much anyway that you want. 

YG: Not that we intended [to]. We’re just doing it cause that’s what we do. But as far as commercial-wise, that’s how we set it up. We can do all different things. 

Read more from the SLUG Archives:
The Stiff Sheet: October 1995
The Stiff Sheet: September 1995