The Gazaway Mountain Boys with THE MIC

The Mic: What got this band together and started in
this business?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: It all started in the summer of ought-5 - Jim Gazaway, fiddle, guitar, moved to Hutchinson from the KC area and was looking for people to jam with. He got together with banjo master Jim Shimel and they started jamming. Eventually they called Bob Colladay, who had never played bass or bluegrass and we were a trio. We added our first mandolin player, Harlen Depew. We played a restaurant and coffee shop and street corners. We added Tammy Colladay, a fantastic vocalist, who has now added some guitar to the group. We have completed this sextet with Dave Schimming on mandolin and guitar, and Robert Hooker on dobro.



The Mic:Who writes and produces all the material for
the band?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: So far we play mostly covers, everything from traditional bluegrass, classic country, Bob Dylan and Green Day. Bob Colladay has written a couple of songs that we play on an irregular basis.



The Mic:The band played in front of or with any acts
our readers would
know from the Mainstream?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: Nope, Well some people have probably heard of Truckstop Honeymoon. We have coincidentally opened for them twice at Winfield during the Walnut Valley Festival.

Also we opened the Kansas Bluegrass Association Winter Festival in Wichita this year. There were a lot of great bluegrass bands that most people have never heard of.

Early on we jammed with Chuck Mead, Nashville recording artist and founding member of BR5-49.



The Mic:Where can people access your music on the web?
The Gazaway Mountain Boys: www.gmbks.com & www.youtube.com


The Mic:Any embarrassing moments on stage?
The Gazaway Mountain Boys: Almost every night!


The Mic:Any good stories you want to tell us?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: We have played some venues, let me tell you, We have played for meat, fancy shirts, and dinner. We have played between bathroom doors, in sheep pens, barns and churches. We have played outside in freezing cold and burning sun.


The Mic:Who is the bands musical influence?
The Gazaway Mountain Boys: We have six people in the band now. There are lots of influences. Traditional bluegrass, classic rock, classic country, folk, Frank Sinatra, Doyle Lawson, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead.


The Mic:How did the band get together?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: Well aside from what we discussed earlier, the mandolin position has been the real side story of the band. If you have seen "This is Spinal Tap" The mandolin is the drummer of our group both musically and Spinal Tapally. We have played with 5 different mandolin players. Harlen Depew started with us, Paul Schimming played a Stage 7 show with us at Winfield, Then Mike Shyder played with us for a couple of months, then moved. John Depew joined us for about a year. Now we have the honor of playing with Dave Schimming. Last year at Winfield, Dave went down with a leg injury and Mike Snyder was there to fill-in when we played the flood stage.



The Mic:What is your musical background like?
The Gazaway Mountain Boys: Most of the band are life long musicians, some have played in bands before, some are just starting out.


The Mic:Any other members in your family that are
musicians?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: Yep, pretty much all of us have other people in our family interested in music. Our Mandolin player's sons is a music professor. He comes to Winfield every year and plays bluegrass with us.



The Mic:What is the TOP reason why you want to play
music?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: The people.


The Mic:what's your stance on file swapping?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: I think it is okay with artist permission. I think Anarchy is overrated.

The Mic:what is the process of making a cd?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: We choose some songs, practice them for awhile, then we record the track live with no over dubs. Mix the tracks and hope for the best.

The Mic:how do you get the word out about your music?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: Myspace, Facebook, posters, newspapers



The Mic:how is your local response to your music?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: Pretty good, the scene for live music is starting to pickup here, so at first it was really a novelty to have a band playing anywhere here. Now we have a few people that see most of our shows.

The Mic:what is the farthest you have traveled for a gig?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: Not counting Winfield, Probably...Norwich, KS. Ever heard of it? In July we will be doing a show at the Emma Chase Cafe in Cottonwood Falls. That will be the official long haul for us.

The Mic:What tune on the cd are you most proud of?

The Gazaway Mountain Boys: "Caleb Meyer" sung by Tammy, because she makes us all sound good.