Unsung Melody - Best Part of Me. An interview with Malcolm Booher from 4forty9.

4forty9 is a band from a small town in Kentucky, called Burkesville. It’s a small town with little to do. So, these five young guys came together and formed a brotherhood. The name 4forty9 comes from the road where the band practices. I’ve known the guys for some time now, and I’d like to introduce them to our readers. The band has just released their debut full length called Best Part of Me.

You can listen in to the entire Malcolm Booher interview below:
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Today I’m joined by Malcolm Booher. Malcolm is the guitarist for the band 4forty9. Welcome back to the family Malcolm. We’ve talked before and I recently took some photos of the band at the Music Is Me Fest (You can check out the photos here.) So, good to have you back.

You guys just released your first full length album, it’s called the Best Part of Me. It’s a pretty good deal. Tell us a little bit about it and when it was released.

It was released on November 30th. We released it on iTunes, well all over the internet, and of course hard copies. We did a CD release show in our hometown of Burkesville, KY. Six of the songs were recorded with David Barrick at his studio in Glasgow, KY. The other five were recorded with Music Is Me Studios. Produced by Jon Lawhon and Chris Robertson.

Both of those guys of course are in Black Stone Cherry.

Right. That was a fun time. We started the album early last year, around February I guess it was. We finally finished all the tracking, and artwork, and everything and released it this past November.

One of my favorite songs on there is The Moth. You guys have a really young lead singer, in this song he has a bit of a Layne Staley feel from Alice In Chains. I’m assuming those guys are a big influence.

Oh yeah. I’ve had a lot of people say that the song The Moth reminds them of Alice In Chains. I’m kind of like, that was the point. Ya know? (laughter) We recorded that song and it didn’t even have a title. We just called it the Alice In Chains song. It has those kind of sludgy riffs, with the de-tuned guitars and we finally just called it The Moth, as that’s one of the lines in the chorus. Chris Robertson was mixing the song while they were out on the road when he mentioned to Jon that this could be one of the lost Alice In Chains songs. So, we really just decided to make it as somewhat of a tribute to one of our favorite bands and one of our biggest influences.

How about yourself personally? Where does your style come from? Who were you mainly influenced by?

I really dig into the blues stuff. Stevie Ray Vaughn is probably my biggest influence. Love Hendrix. Jimmy Page, he had the whole bluesy feel about him with a rock approach. Also, some of the rhythmic stuff I do, Dimenag Darrell from Pantera was a big influence on that. I really do draw from a lot of guitar players, pulling from each and try to make my own style.

What kind of shows do you have coming up? I know you’ve opened for a few National artists of late.

We have a show in Bowling Green, KY on the 26th. February 1st in Louisville, KY. That’s about all we have at the moment. We’ve been taking a little bit of a break from playing so many shows. We played quite a bit this last Fall and Winter. We’re just going to take some time and work on a few things. Do some writing. We’re actually planning a couple week tour beginning in May and into June. We’ve got a couple of sponsors lined up to help us out, as we all know it’s not cheap to tour. The plan is to hit about 10 different states. We are planning to head out West a little, then back South and come back around to KY. Making a nice little circle hopefully.

You mentioned that Jon Lawhon and Chris Robertson both helped you out on the album, on the latter five songs. I know they are kind of new to the process, they’ve done a lot for themselves, but are just really expanding what they are doing at this point. How was it working with them?

It was a blast. Those guys are so talented. They’re great songwriters. Jon did most of the producing on the last five songs. Chris did some. He would come by the studio and drop a few ideas. Jon did most of the recording, but Chris did all the mixing on the entire album. So, he did a few things post-production that really livened up the sound. Jon really surprised me about how good of a musician he really is. Not only can he play the bass, he can play drums really well, he came up with some cool guitar riffs here and there. It was really fun to work with that level of musicianship. They really pushed us to be the best we could be on the album. I think the songs that they produced turned out really well. Just really talented guys.

I know you guys personally, so I know you have had an issue lately. You broke the ring finger on your left hand. How’s the finger doing?

Funny you should mention it. I just recently got my cast off. I had to have surgery on my hand, I have two permanent pins in my left hand. Which really sucks, because I haven’t gotten to play any guitar until recently. It’s the longest I’ve not been able to play guitar in six years. The doctor gave me a few tips on how to get my fingers moving well again. It’s mainly my ring finger and middle finger that are really stiff. My hand is fine, there’s no pain there, but I tried to play a little guitar today…I can play rhythm pretty well, but some of those lead licks are a little behind. So, have some rust to knock off for sure. I’ll be fine though. I’ll be playing the next show we have.

I always try to end on a random question. So, let’s pick on Trevor a little bit.

Oh, of course. I love doing that.

You’ve been given a magical power for one night to aggravate him during a show. You have the option to give him a Miss Piggy nose, Spock ears, or a Barney the Dinosaur skin-tone. You can choose one, what do you choose ?

I’d like to choose all three! I’d probably go with the Miss Piggy nose because that would just be hilarious. I would love to aggravate him about it all night. Although making him look like Barney would be pretty cool too.

Alright, I fully expect to see some scotch tape holding that nose up on the Facebook.