Jon Catfish DeLorme - ZZZWalk & The Nude Party Interview
Born and raised in Point Pleasant, NJ, New York based musician Jon Catfish DeLorme began playing music as an early teen and was Influenced by his father’s love and passion for music. DeLorme would soon find himself incredibly moved by the likes of Buddy Cage (New Riders of The Purple Sage) and from that moment on he knew he wanted to play the pedal steel. After befriending the late Neil Flanz, whom he received lessons and wisdom on the instrument, DeLorme has made a name for himself as he cuts his own path in the craft. In this interview we speak about DeLorme’s childhood growing up, moving to New York as soon as he could, playing in ZZZWalk and Nude Party and his most recent project, “The Star Route.”
Are you originally from Brooklyn, New York? What was your childhood like? When did you first begin to fall in love with music, more specifically pedal steel? Was this something that was relevant around your household growing up? What is it about the pedal steel that fascinates you the most?
I grew up in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, on the shore just below Asbury Park, but moved to New York City shortly after turning 19 and have been here ever since. Music has always been a large part of my life from early childhood. My father was a huge music fan and was always playing music in the car and talking about it. He taught me about anything from Les Paul to Dr. John and everything in between like Santo and Johnny. The excitement and way he spoke about music really influenced the way I felt and feel about it. He truly loved music and was of an earlier generation. He was 23 when he saw Bob Dylan at the gaslight in Manhattan in 1963. My older brother always had guitars around, so I remember picking them up around 7, or 8 and pantomiming as if I was on a stage, but had no idea what I was doing. I got my own guitar at 13 and about a month later I was in a band. Around the same time I saw a show at somebody's backyard in a neighboring town where Buddy Cage, of the New Riders of the Purple Sage, was on stage in the band. He was 10x louder than any of the other players, it was the first time I ever saw a steel guitar in person and it completely blew me out of the water. I actually heard an internal voice at that moment that kind of said " This is what you are going to do, this is it". I woke up the next day and felt excited to be on this new path. It was different and the deeper and deeper I got into the history of it the more intrigued I was. It was a special moment that I will never forget. He was one of the all time greats and to this day a huge inspiration of mine; someone who really took the instrument out of the box, one of the first, and explore much deeper with tone and technique.
After that I found a homemade pedal steel for $150 at a local music store that was essentially a plank of wood with coathangers and fishing line for the undercarriage. It was rough but got me going and I played it until it fell apart, then got another one slightly better but still homemade. This went on until I saved enough money for a real deal steel which was a “Pedalmaster S10” also known as “The General” built by Roy Thomas in Maurice Louisiana. It was a great guitar because it was the first time I was hearing sounds that I heard on country records and I wasn't held back by the physical limitations of a wonky instrument. I realized I needed a sensei to get a little head start on some roadblocks I was hitting. I started looking up some of the players on records I was currently listening to, figuring they wouldn't be too hard to reach and maybe I'd get lucky trying to contact them. While I was on a huge Gram Parsons kick I found the Fallen Angela live album from 1973 with Emmylou Harris. I looked up the steel player Neil Flanz in the liner notes and he had an active website. After emailing him to see if he did lessons he immediately responded with $40/hr to which then caused my to buy a plane ticket to Austin immediately. I studied with him, he taught me a lot of what I know and still use. We became great friends since then regularly keeping in touch until he passed about a year ago after getting inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. Another player who had a huge influence on me during this time is Susan Alcorn. Her approach to the instrument is exciting and reaffirms that there is still a lot of uncharted water in the world of steel guitar and you don't necessarily have to play country music with it.
Do you have any siblings? What would you and your friends do for fun growing up? Who were some of your earliest influences in your more formative years? When and where did you see your first show and when did it dawn on you that you wanted to be a musician yourself?
I'm the youngest of 6 so there was always a lot going on. Having older siblings who were passionate about music definitely helped push me towards the right direction. I remember a lot of time skateboarding and a lot of time spent on the boardwalk and beach in my formative years. As far as earliest influences go, the first real music I found on my own that hit me was the album ElectricLarryLand by the Butthole Surfers as well as The Presidents of the United States of America. From there I went down the 60s route and listened to a lot of Yardbirds. The Grateful Dead has always been a huge influence and to this day is my favorite band. I think my first big show was 311/Incubus in 2000. It definitely left an impact seeing PNUT slap that bass.
When and where did you play your first gig and what was that experience like? Did you participate in any groups, or projects prior to ZZZWalk? What initially led to the decision to form this group? What was the overall chemistry between everyone and what were those early jam sessions like when first starting out?
My first gig was a battle of the bands at The Saint in Asbury Park NJ. We won the first couple rounds, but I think ultimately a screamo band that sold more tickets than us bumped us out of the running. C’est La Vie. I played in a couple projects leading up to ZZZWalk both as a teenager and into moving to NYC, but never started really cooking with momentum until I got a pedal steel. The first band I played in with it was called Rosy Street with my friend Kyle Avallone. He was incredibly patient as I still had no idea how to play it. We only had one song initially and rehearsed it for months. From there I started playing steel with Shilpa Ray and hit the road with her for several years. This was my first real venture regularly touring and hitting the road for months at a time. Throughout this I began doing more session work on different peoples albums in the studio. Shortly after that I got invited to join Psychic Ills for a tour on an upcoming album cycle. It felt like a perfect fit on stage for what I was trying to do and my new bandmates quickly became family. I started playing electric guitar more with them then I had in the past and during the downtime when Psychic Ills was not on the road, ZZZWalk was formed. The lineup has been a rotating door, as has the instrumentation going from a trio to a quintet then going completely acoustic with a fiddle and no drums then back to full band. It has been a great way to stay practiced while not on the road.
Tell me about recording the band’s debut album “Ridin’ Cross The Desert On A Horse With No Legs.” back in 2021. What was the overall vision and approach to this record? How did the deal with the fine folks over at Hippie Scum come about?
That was a tribute to the great Kinky Friedman. He is a renowned author and musician that I’ve always looked up to as a New Yorker trying to sing country songs. It started as a remote recording project during the pandemic where I would send tracks back and forth via email (prior to that I did the same thing with a cover album of the Bobby Charles solo record in the same approach which is on bandcamp still). Kinky’s songs felt like a natural fit for this process. For the first song “Ride Em Jewboy” my friend Larry “Ratso” Sloman provided the vocals. He has a lot of history with Kinky and is the Watson to his Sherlock in Kinky’s series of murder mystery novels set in NYC. It was great getting him involved and seeing it all play out. I finished recording it, but didn't really know exactly what to do with it. During the pandemic I discovered the music of Cactus Lee and met Hippie Scum through him and we all became fast friends occasionally seeing each other in Texas, or NY. I asked if they'd want to put a cassette release of the Kinky covers and it was well received.
That following year you guys released your debut LP “Holy Royal Casino” on Tall Texan. What was the overall approach to this album that features original material? Would you mind giving some background to songs such as “Cold Dark Days”, “The Trouble In Fresh Kills”, and “White Line Fever”?
The songs from Holy Royal Casino were the result of playing non stop shows for a couple years. Eventually the catalog got so expansive that it was time to make a record. We were so rehearsed the entire record was finished in 2 days with Travis Harrison at Serious Business (1 day of basic tracking & 1 day of overdubs). “Cold Dark Days” was written in the wake of a heartbreak, like the same night. In the past I've found it hard to write about life experiences when you're in the thick of it, but this was an exception to this rule. “The Trouble In Fresh Kills” is about how gross Staten Island was. Specifically the Fresh Kills landfill, which was the dumping ground for NYC for decades. I was fascinated with reading about it for awhile both growing up in NJ which has a reputation for pollution and I think this may have contributed. There are many interesting side notes on the Fresh Kills dump like the mafia getting rid of people there and city workers who worked there who had to be armed due to mutated wildlife who inhabited the dump. I changed the words to Billy Joe Shavers “Black Rose” and the song was born. “White Line Fever” is about the loneliness one can experience traveling on the road and missing someone back at home. A 3 month long tour with long drives and little rest can have a hysteria like effect, mix that with some homesickness and that's White Line Fever.
What have you been up to here recently? Are you working on anything new for Spring/Summer? Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
I'm currently on day 2 of a couple month-long tour playing pedal steel with the Nude Party. We are currently working on the 2nd ZZZWalk full length that will be titled “Strange Weather”. I'm excited about these songs as I feel like it's very different from Holy Royal Casino in a good way, different sides of the band revealed on this next one as well as more collaborative singing and song writing from everyone. Aside from that, I'm a couple gigs deep with a new project called “The Star Route” which is more experimental based than any other projects I've been involved with. Very cinematic and dreamy improved songs led by Pedal Steel. Very excited to see where this goes. Other than that a bunch of pedal steel gigs with various projects also on the horizon this summer that I can't mention at this time, but it will be exciting.
