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| Zubia + DeGuvera: Tempe duo gets back to basics | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Chris Hansen Orf, Get Out | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| April 10, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
“The first time (we toured) we got a gold Impala and thought we were high rollers,” says Emmett DeGuvera, who along with fellow singer/songwriter Mark Zubia makes up the duo. “But this last time we were rolling in a new Charger, like Bo and Luke Duke.” “We travel light — we just need a suitcase and two acoustic guitars,” says Zubia. “And a bow and arrow,” adds DeGuvera with a laugh. Two of the Valley’s best songwriters, Zubia (who plays with the Tempe legends Pistoleros and fronts his own group, Los Guys) and DeGuvera (who plays with Tempe country rockers Tramps & Thieves) never planned on forming an acoustic duo together, but each was familiar with the other’s material after playing “musicians rounds” (a gathering of local musicians playing each other’s originals at Tempe’s Yucca Tap Room). “We didn’t call each other and say, ‘Hey, let’s start an acoustic duo,’ ” Zubia says of how he and DeGuvera began working together. “(Emmett) had a gig every Wednesday and it was a good paying gig, so it was like, ‘Let’s just you and me do it.’ ” “I always looked forward to playing Mark’s stuff (during the musicians rounds),” DeGuvera says. “I asked him to play on that (regular) show and it just kind of went from there.” After playing together for a year and a half, it became apparent that Zubia + DeGuvera needed to make a CD. “People would say, ‘What do you have to sell?,’ ” DeGuvera says. “I’d have a Tramps & Thieves record and (Mark) had his records, but there were some songs of his that he hadn’t put out on a record yet and songs I had, so we took three days and made the record.” Titled (“Places & Situations Like This”), the six-song EP contains selected cuts by both writers (including Zubia’s “Radio” and DeGuvera’s “Somebody, Somewhere”), a cover of “Absolutely Wright or Wrong,” written by late Gin Blossoms guitarist Doug Hopkins, and two co-written tracks in “Am I Your Man” and “Bury Me.” Zubia and DeGuvera insist that the duo is a fun side project and that Tramps & Thieves and Los Guys fans needn’t panic. “Even though this is for fun and money, or sometimes both — fun and/or money,” Zubia says with a laugh, “we can still do our band thing. (Emmett) is in the middle of recording a new (Tramps & Thieves) record and so am I. There’s no grand plan (for Zubia + DeGuvera).” “We’re having fun doing it, and it’s just about the experience and it’s about doing whatever you need to do to be a working musician,” adds DeGuvera of the duo’s blue collar approach to making music and touring. “We’re just gonna take our hard hat and guitar and go build something.” PREVIEW Zubia + DeGuvera When: 9 p.m. Wednesday Where: Yucca Tap Room, 29 W. Southern Ave., Tempe How much: Free Info: (480) 967-4777 or yuccatap.com Contact Chris Hansen Orf by email, or phone (480) 898-5684 |
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