Digital Interviews: What made you want to be a musician?

Tye North: Well, I was raised around a bunch of musicians. My dad played drums in a band called The Holy Modal Rounders in the ‘70s and ‘80s in Portland. That was kind of a crazy group, and lifestyle -- part of the times, you know. They played psychedelic country rock ‘n’ roll stuff, with some bluegrass elements and a country-swing kind of thing. I was raised around that. I didn’t go to music school and that sort of thing. I got into it because I liked the music. He didn’t push it on me, so it made me curious.

DI: Didn’t you play drums first?

TN: A little bit. I got in a little bit of drums and percussion, just listening to things and playing on the table. Then got a guitar and then got a bass -- I actually started playing bass because I was in a band, I had a buddy who played guitar, so we had two guitar players and no bass player.

DI: You also learned how to make instruments?

TN: I play left-handed, unfortunately, and it was harder to find good instruments that were left-handed. At one point, I wanted to get good. I had cheap stuff back then. I wanted to learn how to build. I thought, “I’m not gigging as much. While I’m getting better, I’d learn how to build and do that sort of thing.” That was the start of my college years, so to speak. I finished up those same college years on the road with Leftover, so it was either building or playing, which is what I wanted to do. I mean, I didn’t really want to have something to fall back on; I didn’t want to fall back. But, building gave me an understanding of how instruments are made and the difference of interests between builders and musicians, which is sometimes pretty big. What these guys think is right and what we think is right, you know, as players, it’s kind of different. Yeah, I learned how to build a little bit and do that kind of thing. If I’d had less luck getting some gigs, I’d maybe been a little more into it. I was definitely more motivated to play.

DI: How did you get involved in Leftover Salmon?

TN: It was 1993, July, and I had met them at the Oregon Country Fair, in Veneta. I was playing with a group called Kpani Addy and Aba-Ni Aya. He’s a cousin of Obo Addy from Portland. It’s a drumming clan from Ghana. This is a West African dance, high-life group -- high-energy kind of stuff. It was my first gig with that band, and I met the Leftover guys there. Then, about a week later, they came through town and were going to stay at my house. I had a bunch of room there, and I was pretty poor at that point, not really having much together. I sort of auditioned with them. They needed a bass player. I was 20 and had not much of a life. “Okay, I’ll get a little money and a little salary and go on the road. Cool.” None of us were making that much dough then, really, but it was a chance for me to go on the road -- and that was a great opportunity. I got the gig and then moved to Boulder.

DI: Tell us about the musical environment of Boulder.

TN: When I got there in ’93, the Boulder scene, there were a lot of local bands, sort of a funk-oriented danceable sort of thing. There’s a lot of really good jazz musicians in Boulder, some world-class musicians, and there’s classical musicians. There’s guys into Indian music, and things like that. Boulder’s a pretty creative place, sort of like Eugene in a certain kind of way. I left Boulder to come to Portland, where I live now, where I’m from. But in Boulder, it kind of started with a guy named Dave Watts, who came to Boulder from Boston. He was in the band Chakra. Chakra broke up, and Dave moved out and started calling everybody he knew. He’s a guy, almost started this sort of acid-jazz thing in Boulder. There was a guy named Michigan Mike who started booking his gigs. He has one every Monday, for years, and that brought a bunch of guys together. Then, you know, some of the better musicians start floating to the top and getting in bands. Like, Tony Furtado hears them, and Leftover hears them, and [String] Cheese [Incident]. One of the first gigs like that, Kyle and Mike Kang met. That was about a year before Kyle joined String Cheese. That was something that brought them together. And Ross Martin is the greatest guitar player in the world. He plays with Tony Furtado a lot now. He’s, you know, furthering his goodness. So, it was a great scene in Boulder. It was nice. Boulder has good music. Boulder’s like a funnel, mostly from the East to West. A lot of great groups will go to the Boulder Theater or to the Fox. You know, you can see Parliament and Pat Metheny in the same week. Everybody who tours will go through Colorado, so you can see any act that’s touring in the country.

DI: What were some of the factors that led you to leave Leftover Salmon?

TN: I wanted, personally, to do other things musically. Leftover Salmon has been a great thing. We’re all still buddies, and it’s a great family. I needed to be able to play the kind of music that I felt I needed to get out, and be part of a different kind of thing. That turned into Comotion. It’s really Mike Kang who got Comotion together. We were buddies hanging out in Boulder, from the Double Dig days. Double Dig was an area where a lot of musicians lived. Double Dig got torn down, and everybody had to move. But it was this piece of land where everybody could live cheaply, and it was a musical co-op. It was great. We knew each other, and then we started meeting the other guys at festivals, and that sort of thing. We met Paul [McCandless] when he was playing Bela [Fleck] at Telluride Bluegrass, and at Merle Watson. Not just bluegrass festivals but others, like High Sierra and Hog Farm. That’s the chance where musicians get to meet each other. Because otherwise you’re just gigging. You can’t hang out, you know. It’s rare. Unless you’re in New York or unless you’re playing in a big city, you’re all playing the same clubs. For touring musicians, festivals are the best place to meet other musicians. We knew Darol and Mike. It was just being around each other a little bit and feeling a similar kind of vibe from everybody. Everybody got along, we’re all buddies.

DI: There’s also a major talent level, too.

TN: I’m lucky to be in this band. I don’t take it for granted.

DI: What’s it like playing with guys like Darol Anger and Mike Marshall?

TN: I’ve been listening to those guys. More Darol, I guess. I heard him on some of the earlier [David] Grisman recordings. Mikey and Darol, there’s a couple of solos that I just live by. Things that really formed a lot of early music appreciation for me, really saying, “Okay. This is how beautiful it can be.” And with Paul McCandless in Oregon -- I really, really got into their group, and I love that music a lot. Hearing the Aquarium Rescue Unit, and forming a friendship with Jeff [Sipe], has been really great. Friendship is a big part of it. If you don’t respect the people or like the people, the energy is still there, but it’s so nice when everybody gets along. Those guys, they’re also the best musicians in the world at what they do. Paul is undoubtedly the greatest double-reed player ever. Darol is, as Billy Taylor called him, “the great improvising violinist.” Those guys are great, and I’m lucky. They could be doing a lot of things musically, with all sorts of great musicians, and right now we’re doing this. It’s great.

DI: Is this something you hope to continue in the future?

TN: We’re planning on doing a couple more tours, maybe once or twice a year, maybe a little more. Short 10-day tours is what we’re thinking about, where we can cover a pretty good amount of space. If we go out East, it would be much more concentrated, or we’d be driving more, because there’s so many more places to play. We’re talking about it, and trying to fit our schedules together. Kang’s the busiest. He’s the guy who’s out 180 days, or whatever.

DI: What are some other projects you’re looking forward to?

TN: Currently, I’m getting together a trio with Danny Barnes of the Bad Livers. He lives up in Washington, and we’ve gotten together. We met when we toured together with Leftover and the Bad Livers last fall, up in the East Coast, and had a great time playing together. And we’re going to play a bunch of music together and play some gigs and get a little group together with a drummer. We’re working together on that project and some interesting kinds of things -- from bluegrass to sequenced, you know, drum and bass, brave music kind of stuff. We want to go further.

DI: Can you give a few words of advice to the young musicians out there?

TN: Keep your ears open and enjoy. Try to enjoy all kinds of music. See and hear music, and try to be open to music coming from every country. It’s all valid. It’s really important that you learn as much as you can about music, and study it. There are certain countries that have a high level of education, as far as reading and knowing about the structure of music. That’s a really important thing. And try to learn about the music business. You’ve got to know about mechanical royalties, songwriting royalties, royalties made on records, how you can make money as a musician, how you should be treated at a club. It’s really about experience more than anything. You have to learn from it, and we’re still learning. You have new situations every day, new clubs and new people to deal with, and you have to be flexible. You have to try to be water, and really go with it and move with it, but still retain your integrity and do the kind of things you want to do. But it’s much more important to make friends in this business, too. It’s a small business at certain levels, and they’re small social circles. Keep your ears open, and don’t let people discourage you. It’s really hard, you know. I definitely went through the boot-camp thing with Leftover, being 20 and finding out the hard way. Just be a little more chill around people sometimes, and not be in everybody’s face. I’m still learning that. [laughs]