X-Press yourself

Durand Wilkerson finds his voice

by John O'Neill

It's a little past two o'clock and Durand Wilkerson is kinda harried as we talk. He's packing his bags and getting ready to hit the road to New York for a two-day jaunt with his new outfit the Soul X-Press, and while he's personable enough during our chat, his mind is definitely set on the trip. Which is good, because the X-Press figure to be touring quite a bit during the upcoming year.

"One of the first things the band said to me when I answered the ad is that if I wasn't serious, forget it," says Wilkerson. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear. We did four rehearsals, and then played our first gig. We've got a 15-city national college tour this fall. This is another plateau [for me]. I can say this is the best band I've been with yet."

Which is saying a lot, considering Wilkerson's long history. Born into a strict religious family, Wilkerson began his career like many great R&B singers -- in the church choir.

"My family were holy rollers. My grandmother, who ran the family, was a missionary; my dad was a deacon; and my mother was in the choir. Blues was the devil's music back then, and that's what I gravitated to. Solomon Burke, Rufus Thomas -- I'd play that till I saw my mother comin', then I'd turn the radio off," Wilkerson reflects. When not sneaking songs on the radio, he was often sneaking out of the house to play with his first rock band. "Grandma definitely didn't like that. She'd say, `The Lord didn't give you your talent for that!'"

After a lengthy, 10-year stint spent criss-crossing the country with Platinum Blues (who pulled a six-week tour-of-duty with the Nighthawks, and backed up B.B. King and Johnny Copeland on numerous occasions), Wilkerson came north to Wormtown in 1984, looking for a fresh start after his band dissolved and his mother passed away. From then on he's become one of the area's most versatile and underrated singers as point-man for the Rhythm Rockers, Soul Drivers, and most recently, the acoustic-flavored Nightcrawlers, an offshoot of the Drivers. Able to reach across a spectrum of soul and blues, Wilkerson's voice is reminiscent of many of the singers he listened to all those years ago. The warm and velvety aspects of Johnny Adams, the plaintive Muscle Shoals soul of Arthur Alexander, the house-rocking wail of Bunker Hill and Roy Head can all be heard at various points in Wilkerson's repertoire. Generally the strongest link of all the Worcester bands he's played in, Wilkerson in the Soul X-Press finally has an outfit that can keep up with him musically, and allow him room to stretch out. The band are a seasoned, versatile, and world-class combo who carry their influences from all over the globe. Guitarist Rael El-Khazen hails from Lebanon; drummer George Melikishvili from the Republic of Georgia; organist Nate Carpenter plied his craft in St. Louis; bassist Ben Wright is a New Yorker; and Mike Hemans, a native Bostonian.

"The chemistry is great because they're all professionals," says Wilkerson. "It also expands your horizons because they are from all over the world."

Having recently released a three-song demo as a prelude to their first full-length disc, the band are receiving radio response from Holland, Germany, and Lebanon. "We've been getting good international feedback, there may be a tour of Holland, and we're talking to a couple of agents. Our goal is to be an international band, we don't want to be a regional band."

A pretty lofty goal for straight out of the gate, but after all the years and all the miles, Wilkerson, having enjoyed modest success, has been able to boil down how the music industry works.

"Some bands are around for 10 years and still trying to break, others get signed after a year. That's why you gotta play. You never know who's gonna be out there. You gotta be at the right place at the right time."

Space Case

Very upsetting news that the Space was broken into two weeks ago. Even more upsetting that said crime looks to have been perpetrated by someone familiar with the operation. And now a special note to our little thief/"musician."

Dear moron, as you seem to know the inner workings of the Space, you probably also know that it's a non-profit operation run on a shoestring, with no glory for those donating their time and energy to the sole purpose of giving young folks (even losers like you) a place to go and be exposed to art and music for a nominal fee. I'll bet you're too cool for school and too lazy to get a full-time job, so that's why you had to steal someone else's amp head. You're probably one of those crybabies who thinks Worcester isn't meeting your expectations, and that most of the bands you see suck, so you can justify your spineless action. Do all of us a favor, junior. Don't bring the head back. Please, pawn it and purchase a one-way Greyhound ticket to some other city that's hip enough for you.

*

Finally, everyone here at the Phoenix HQ is pretty devastated by the news of Buzz Bar owner Elaine Lavin's death because Wormtown is a tight little community, and something like this affects everyone. When I was doing a radio show over at WCUW it was easy to hop on the mic and say "this one's for you," but having to write down your thoughts is a much tougher proposition. Do you try to wax eloquently about the tragedy of dying so young, or how those left behind will be forever changed? Or do you focus on Elaine's talent as an artist and as a business person and try to draw some sort of satisfaction from that? All I know is the office is unusually quiet, and there seems to be a lot of personal reflection going on. Maybe having to sit, not worry about deadlines, and think about being alive is in itself a pretty good legacy. But right now, nobody here feels so good.