WEBVTT - Ivan Neville 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:13.240 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to Bob left Said podcast. My 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:17.000 guest today is the one and only Ivan Never, who 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:21.560 has a new solo album, Touch My Soul. Ivan, you 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:24.360 haven't put out a solo album for almost twenty years. 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:26.800 Why now? Yeah? 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:27.480 Why not? 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:31.280 You know, VENI late than Never, I guess I was 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:35.400 kind of just playing around, playing with my band Dumpster Funk, 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:36.919 doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that, 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.479 and it occurred to me, oh, let's write a song, Ivnant, 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:43.320 and I kind of just came up with a tune, 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:45.040 and next thing you know, I got a whole record 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:45.919 going on. 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:49.720 So yeah, okay, So how do you know it's a 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:52.200 solo record and not a Dumpster Funk record. 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:57.560 Ah, I think you can tell. It's not as funky. 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.840 It's got a little grease. It's is soulful, but a 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:04.840 few more ballads and few more mid tempo, kind of 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:06.880 soft kind of. 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:08.760 Sounding things, and. 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:14.320 Topic wise, it's a little more personal from my point 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:17.520 of view than with Dumpster So yeah, there's a few 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:19.760 few elements that will let you know it's not a 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:20.559 dumpster record. 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:22.440 Well, I certainly listened to the record and the record 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:24.840 is great. You know, I'm not saying that than you, 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:29.240 because you know people of aren't vintage and make new 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.080 music and usually roll in your eyes. But I guess 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:34.920 what I'm saying. In the writing process, how did you 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.160 know you had a solo album and not a Dumpster 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:37.880 Funk record? 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.120 You know, it's funny, it's it's it's uh. 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.119 The thing about it is, those guys are playing on 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:47.520 a lot of this record. The members of Dumpster Funk 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:52.000 are playing with me, Tony Hall, Devin Truss, Claire uh 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:55.360 ian Neville, Nick Daniels, the whole lot of them in 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:59.360 some some form of fashion. They're all involved in this thing. 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:04.000 But the writing process was just me by myself in 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:08.440 my son room, which is right down a few steps 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:11.280 away from where I'm sitting, and there's a piano in there, 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:13.280 at the digital piano, and I go sit in there 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:15.760 and I start making up little pieces and that's kind 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.520 of where I developed the ideas for the songs, and 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:22.120 I recorded them on my phone on voice memo, little piece, 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:24.680 little piece here, little piece there, and then I would 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:29.440 go into the recording studio and start building songs based 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:33.800 on those ideas. And it was just me by myself, 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:39.160 starting the process and building the foundation for what people 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:42.639 became this record, So that's the difference. And Dumpster Funk 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:45.720 is a group thing, and it's more of a close 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:49.720 to a democracy. It's like guys meeting and converging in 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.800 a room and somebody has an idea, or all of 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:54.160 us have ideas. 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:56.040 And we meet up in the middle somewhere. 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:01.120 But in this process, I was guiding the ship the 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:05.600 whole time, whereas in Dumpster Funk we take turns driving 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:07.040 kind of so to speak. 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:09.160 But here I was doing all the driving. 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:14.280 Okay, do you normally write songs or you suddenly got 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:16.680 inspirations that I want to write a set of songs? 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:18.400 What was the genesis? 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:20.919 Well, I do write a lot. 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:23.320 I have written a lot with Dumpster Funk, and I've 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:25.600 written a lot of lyrics and a lot of ideas 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.200 that we've had as a group. I've had a big 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.160 part in a lot of the songwriting. And I wrote 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:35.000 some songs maybe a few years ago for a project 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:37.440 called Neville Jacobs with a friend of minees by the 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:41.760 name of Chris Jacobs. He lives in Baltimore, great singer songwriter, 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:45.320 and he and I had a project and we did 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:49.000 a little dabbling and co wrote some things, and he 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:51.600 actually helped me with a few of these songs as well. 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:55.000 So it was a different mindset to start writing some 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.400 Ivan music. It was a different little mindset, you know. 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.680 Okay, so you get all the demos, you talk about 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.120 going into the studio. What's the situation. You have a 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.080 home studio, use commercial studio? What studios? 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.400 It was part It was mostly home studio stuff and 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:16.000 a couple of different spots. And it wasn't like I 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:18.400 was dem I was I was making it up as 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.479 I went along, basically, So it wasn't like I demoed 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.680 and then cut the songs. I was making it up 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:28.960 and putting parts on and building the tracks and that's 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.440 what they became. And it was not like I was 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.200 going to record them again, like I would build a 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:37.440 song with just a piano piece. And maybe this thing 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:40.800 called a rhythm king, a maestro rhythm king. It's a 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:45.760 little beatbox thing that maybe who used it, sly Slyestone 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:48.840 used it on this Fresh album. There was a guy 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.039 by the name of Timmy Thomas who had a song 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.480 called why Can't We Live Together? Back in the day 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:58.080 he had he used that little beatbox. So did a sugary. 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:00.920 Oh this used it the same little beat beatbox little thing. 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.040 I used that in a bunch of songs to when 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:06.680 I was starting out with the with the with the 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.920 ideas and that's and sometimes I would keep that rhythm 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:12.880 in the song and I'd put some live drums on 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:16.560 them and maybe some other little loopy thing, and maybe 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:18.960 I would have Tony C. Hall Tony Hall come and 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.400 play a bass, or I played bass on a couple 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.599 of things with some key bass, and I kind of 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.159 built it and made it up as I went along, because, 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:29.479 to tell you the truth, when I started out, I 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:32.440 had one song. I had one song that I wrote 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.640 by itself. It was a one off and it was 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.640 a song called Hey Altogether. That's the first song I 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:40.480 wrote for this project. 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:45.680 And yeah, so have you heard Steve Winwood's version of 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:46.960 why Can't We Live Together? 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:50.479 You know what, I've never heard that. I'm interested to 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:50.880 hear that. 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:53.960 You know, you hear the you hear the beat box 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:58.280 on the original Timmy Thomas, it's the same song. It's 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:01.400 not like it's completely it's really great. As a keyboard player, 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:05.279 I think you would enjoy it. But are you technically savvy? 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:07.080 Are you a good engineer in the studio. 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.440 I am not technically savvy at all. 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:11.120 You know. 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.080 The thing is, I there was a period in the 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:16.800 late eighties when I did a lot of my own recording. 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.640 I had a place in Los Angeles where I wrote 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.160 a lot of songs for my first record, and I 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:23.560 did a lot of the engineering. 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:25.240 But this was before it. 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:29.800 Went high tech and it went computer digital and stuff 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.880 like that, and I was given I was pretty good 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:35.000 with a drum machine and all that stuff back then, 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:39.240 But for this project kind I kind of dumb me 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.120 down a little bit, and I haven't really kept up 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:46.240 with some of the technical progression that we've made. And 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:48.760 I have friends that know how to do something. I 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:51.919 know how to tell someone what I want, and I 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.320 know how to look at the screen and say, see 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:59.039 that piece right there, that piece, let's blah blah blah 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:02.400 with that piece, you know, let's make a loop out 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:04.760 of that little one little section there, and things of 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:07.640 that nature. I know how to do that and editing. 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:10.800 If I'm in the room with someone who's technically savvy, 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:13.320 I could tell them what to do by what I'm hearing. 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:18.000 Yeah, okay, the opening track, as you say, is all together. 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.400 There are a lot of special guests, your father, Bonnie, Ray, 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.880 Michael McDonald, trompone Shorty. How did they end up on 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:27.400 the record? How do you actually record? 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:33.320 Well, that they were These pieces were all done separately 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.640 in their respective homes or their studios that they go 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:42.320 to wherever they live. Like Bonnie has an engineer near 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.680 her house where she lives in northern California, and she 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.880 had someone she sang. I sent her the song. Now, 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:54.480 the funny thing was Michael McDonald. I had cross paths 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:58.280 with him over the last several years, maybe about six 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.280 or seven years ago, there was a project that I 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.520 was a part of. It was a live performance thing. 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:08.720 It was called The Last They were doing a version 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:12.680 of the Last Waltz and it was included Warren Haynes 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:16.239 and Don was and Mike McDonald was in that group. 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:18.880 And I was a part of that. And that's where 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.360 I really kind of got to know Mike a little bit. 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:21.520 Well. 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:24.120 He happened to be in New Orleans. Oh, he was 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:25.080 coming to New Orleans. 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.160 And this was like four years ago, like a little 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.480 bit right before the pandemic. He was coming to New 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.640 Orleans and I get I text sent them a text. 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:35.920 I'm like, Mike, I got this. Oh you're gonna you're 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:37.400 gonna be in New Orleans? How long you're gonna be 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:41.200 down here for? And we kind of he hit me 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:42.599 up and yeah, I'm gonna be down there for a 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.200 few days. Well, anyway, long story showed, he ended up 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.560 having a day or a couple of hours and he 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:52.800 came by the studio and I he had him sing 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:59.720 some stuff on this on this song, and I had 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:03.200 him sing some stuff on this song and he, uh, 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:04.400 he did. 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:05.520 He did. It was amazing. 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.040 It was amazing listening to him, listening to his voice, 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.920 especially when he left, and me and the engineer we 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.040 were just listening back at Michael McDonald's voice. This amazing, 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:20.400 you know, distinctive voice that I loved. Right, And then 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:24.120 I got I've got my dad. 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:26.480 To sing some stuff. And the funny thing was the 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:27.520 stuff my dad saying. 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.560 For some reason, it didn't I didn't get the right 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:32.360 stuff from my dad initially. 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:34.120 And then Bonnie. 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:38.720 I had just finished touring with Bonnie maybe a year 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:41.680 before that, and I was I had played you. I 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:45.480 known Bonnie for many years, so I found the right time, 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:47.720 and I'm like, I got this song, Bonnie, I'm gonna 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:49.840 have my dad on it. I got Mike McDonald on it, 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:52.240 and I'd love for you to sing on it. And 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.440 so she she, she said, Okay, send me the song. 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:57.959 I said to the song. She dug it. She got 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.000 with her engineer and she sang a bunch of stuff. 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.720 Find So I got it back and I listened and 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:05.040 I'm like, oh my god, this is so great. And 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.880 I had Mike McDonald and Bonnie singing on this, on 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:12.760 this choruses and on this bridge. And then I got 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.560 David Shaw. He lives in New Orleans. He's got a 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.920 band called the Revivalist. I got David Shaw to come 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:21.400 over and sang. He sang some harmonies on some of 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:25.320 the choruses and whatnot. I got Trumbone Shorty to put 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:29.640 a few little licks on it in the vamp section. 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:32.320 I sent it. 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:32.840 I ended up. 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.640 Mike McDonald text me and says, hey, how's it going 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.080 with that song? Do you need anything else for me? 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.960 I'm like, yes, sure, I want to do a couple. 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:42.680 You want to do a couple of little ad libs? 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:43.120 Perhaps? 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.680 And he sang a few ad libs and he sang 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.440 some little ooh stuff in the beginning. So the first 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.080 voices you hear on this song is Mike McDonald. He 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.960 goes in the beginning. So anyway, long story show. I 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:58.200 ended up and then I called my dad. I said, Dad, 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.120 I said, listen, I didn't really get exactly what I 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:01.760 need it from you, but I need you to do. 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.600 I need about five or six just classic Aaron Neville yoldas. 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:08.760 You don't even have to sing any words. I just 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:12.080 need some oo. I need a few of those. Just 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.560 give me five or six of those and I'll have 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:15.440 everything I want. 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:18.400 And so I ended up with all this beautiful stuff. 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:22.160 And that's where I really had a fun time, sitting 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:24.360 with an engineer. It was this guy, this guy name 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.360 is Basie Bob, who helped me with edit all this stuff. 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:28.440 And he mixed that song. 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.760 And we sat in his studio and listened to this stuff, 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.480 and we listened to me singing, and here comes a 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.400 Bonnie rate little line. Here comes to Mike McDonald line, 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.040 and let's put an Aaron Neville yola right here. And 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.200 it was a beautiful thing. I had so much fun 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:44.640 doing that. 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:51.200 Okay, So, as I referenced earlier, we're older, the world 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:56.040 has changed, acts put out new records and they immediately disappear. 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.520 So you finished the record. It doesn't sound sounds like 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:03.079 you did. Didn't cost that much. How did you ultimately 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.760 find a record company it amp it up for release. 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:11.520 Well, that that was a I owed. I owed something. 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:13.120 I old Dumpster Funk for that. 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.600 Dumpster Funk had been talking to this label of the 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.520 Mascot label group to do a Dumpster Funk record. Now, 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:22.120 Dumpster Funk had music in the can that we had 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:26.920 been working on over the past, you know, of five, 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:30.079 six or seven years, and so we had some stuff 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:33.360 that we had gathered up, some music. And then so 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.440 when Dumpster got to deal with this label, I had 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:41.000 this one song, his hay all together song that was done. 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.720 And this is like I'm talking, this is doing two. 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:49.600 This is like two twenty twenty when they said during 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:53.040 the pandemic twenty twenty twenty twenty one or something like that, 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.240 when Dumpster got to ink the deal with Mascot label group, 0:12:57.280 --> 0:12:59.880 and they offered me a side a deal as well 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:03.800 based on the one song. So now we worked the 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:06.160 Dumpster record a little bit, we played tour and all 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:08.480 that stuff, and now it's time for me. I have 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.959 to write about eight or nine more songs. That's basically 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:12.679 what happened. 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:17.680 Yeah, okay, so the record is done. You're talking to me, 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.360 but how do you plan to get the word out? 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:22.880 And you're gonna go on the road as I've been. 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:25.920 Right, Well, I plan on going on the road this 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:30.960 ivan where it makes sense, especially early on, and then 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:34.400 I'm gonna incorporate some of this stuff, maybe one or 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:37.640 two things where where it also. 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:38.920 Makes sense with Dumpster Funk. 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.960 I might even do some double duties with Dumpster when 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.520 where we can where I might open up some Dumpster 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.960 Funk sets some shows and do an Ivan set. But 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:50.920 I'm gonna do whatever I have to do to get 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.680 this music out there, to get it get it heard 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:57.240 by some folks. So I'm ready to play. 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:01.160 You know. So what's it like having your father be 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:02.240 Aaron Biftels. 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:07.080 You know, it's pretty cool because he's a he's a 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.680 very cool guy man, and it was very you know 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:13.720 growing up with him. He was he was larger than life, 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.160 you know when I was a kid, but for. 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.640 Many reasons, not just because he was this singer guy. 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:22.400 Because when I was young, he hadn't really found any 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:27.040 like real success like he had. He was known around 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:30.160 town a bit, and I knew that by the time 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.760 I was maybe seven years old or something. He had 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.080 this big hit song called tell It Like It Is, 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.680 and we we I remember hearing that song and everybody's saying, 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:41.560 this is going to be a hit record. 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:43.560 And all this stuff. And he didn't make he didn't 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:44.440 make any money. 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:47.560 Off of that that music, so we didn't wait, wait. 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.640 Wait, since I'm talking to you, do you have any 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:51.920 idea if it was a big hit record. While he 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:55.400 didn't make any money. 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.400 The business side was not together at all, and the 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.880 people involved, you know, there was a there were a 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:04.280 lot of shady dealings going on in those days, and 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:06.800 somebody made some money, I'm sure, because it sold a 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:09.200 lot of a lot of copies and it was maybe 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:10.560 made it to maybe number. 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:12.640 Two anyway, But this guy is big. 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:16.280 He was He was generally a big guy, and he 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.920 was kind of tough and he I saw the respect 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:23.960 that he commanded from the people on the streets. I'm 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:27.840 talking about in the neighborhood. Like, not music people, I'm 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:32.640 talking about street people. They respected this guy, Aaron Neville 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:36.400 was respected, you know, not only in the music but 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:38.120 on the street. I mean, you know, he's got a 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:40.440 tattoo in his face. He had a tattoo in his 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.880 face back in the days, and everybody didn't. Everybody didn't 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:47.480 have tattoos, and so he was a pretty rough, you know, 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.560 tough dude, you know who, you know, held his own. 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:53.960 But it was also impressive that he could sing like 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.240 like an angel. Here's this big tough guy that he 0:15:57.480 --> 0:15:59.720 his voice. He starts singing and he's got this light, 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.080 little beautiful voice. 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:03.000 So you know what it was. 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.080 It was very cool growing up with him, and then 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:08.480 when I got to be a teenager, he and I 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:10.440 got really close again. 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:14.520 For there was some reasons that, you know, there. 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:16.080 Was a time when he and my mom kind of 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.280 didn't see i'd I, and so I got to spend 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:21.440 a little bit of time with him as a teenager, 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.000 and he kind of treated me like I was kind 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.440 of a grown up a little bit, and I felt 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:29.440 pretty cool to get to hang with him during that period. 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:33.120 And sooner later, him and my mom they ironed things 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.760 out and we were back together as a family. And 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:38.120 by this time I started playing piano, and he showed 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.120 me a couple of songs on the piano he showed 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:42.840 me the first songs that I lunged how to play. 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:47.640 My dad showed me, and you know, soon after, I 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:49.560 mean a few years later, I was in the band 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.560 with he and his brothers, my uncles, with the Nether brothers, 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:54.720 and that was kind of where I got my educated, 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.560 My music education was playing with those guys. So it's 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.800 always been, you know, like just an honor to like 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:04.360 Aaron Aaron Nevills my dad. But I got to tell 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:08.400 you something a lot of people don't know is that 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:13.480 I was born named after him, and they changed my 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:18.680 name when I was very young for some other family reasons. 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:21.280 My mom's folks didn't really get on with my dad 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:22.040 that that. 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.760 Well when he was when they were young, he was 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:25.760 a bad dude. 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:27.960 And my mom's folks didn't like my dad too much, 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.720 so they changed my name from Aaron to Ivan, and 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.639 I still have his middle name. His name's Aaron Joseph 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:38.480 Neville Senior. My name is Ivan Joseph Neville. I have 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.320 a younger brother who later was he was named Aaron 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:46.280 James never Junior. So I was able to grow up 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.720 being the oldest of my siblings and kind of known 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.000 as Little Aaron but I was Ivan, so I had 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:57.600 my own identity, which I didn't have to totally live 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.520 in the shadow of Aaron Neville's son like that. So 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:02.480 if I would have been kept that name and I 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:06.120 would have been Aaron Jr. How different things might have been. 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:09.679 So there was that element as well. So, you know, 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:12.760 I was known as the oldest and little Aaron, but 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.640 my name was Ivan, so I had my own kind 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:16.200 of thing. 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:18.000 How many kids in the family. 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:22.520 I have two brothers and his sister, and I'm the oldest. 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:24.520 And what are your two brothers and your sister up to? 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.320 My sisters retired? She but ye know, she retired and 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:32.960 she works. She works works in a civil sheriff's office. 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.040 She's been working there. She worked there for thirty some 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:40.320 years and retired. My youngest brother, Jason, he sings and 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:44.440 he performs. He's got a band. He plays around town 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:47.840 in New Orleans. His name is Jason Chason Neville. And 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:51.159 my other brother, little Aaron, we call him Fred's. He 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:55.040 took on his own identity too. His nickname is Fred. 0:18:55.359 --> 0:19:00.159 But he's Aaron Jr. And he does all kinds the 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.960 odd things, odd jobs and whatnot. But yeah, and he's 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:06.359 music being clined as well, but he didn't go into 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:08.040 music the way I did. 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:11.640 Okay, so your father has this huge hit when you're 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:15.480 like seven, while you're growing up, does your father what's 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:17.600 he doing for a living? Is he singing for a 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:19.080 living or does he have another job? 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:21.960 He was singing, and he had other jobs as well, 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:24.800 Like there were times when he was singing and he 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:26.760 would go on the road, in which I got to 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.560 tell you, I would I would welcome the times when 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:30.280 he was gone. 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:32.760 There were times when he would leave because he was 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:33.400 a tough guy. 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:36.560 He was a tough He was a stern father figure 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:39.520 in our house, and when he was gone it would 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:39.919 seem a. 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.480 Little easier around around for me. 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.000 I could get away with more stuff with my mom 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:46.320 than I could with my dad. 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:50.480 But he when he was around, he played music. 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:53.280 He had some jobs and he played with my uncle 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:55.320 aunt and stuff like that. 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.680 But he also had jobs working on the riverfront. 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:00.920 I remember one time he showed up at the house 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:04.119 with a van would have sit with cigarettes and I 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:08.399 can remember the Yeah, the van had like cigarettes and 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:11.920 candy and stuff. He had all kinds of jobs, all 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:14.600 kinds of little jobs. But the riverfront was a was 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:17.120