This month our featured interview is with Seth Yacovone, of the Seth Yacovone Blues Band. Seth is a young bluesman who plays and sings way beyond his physical years. He's toured all over New England, opening for BB King, and played onstage with Phish. Seth is sponsored by GHS strings and Seymour Duncan Pickups, bass player Tommy Coggio is also an endorser for GHS, and Luke Boggess, harmonica player, is an official Hohner endorser. Newest member of the band is drummer Steve Hadeka.

The SethYacovone Blues Band has two self-released CD's "Yessir!" and "Bobfred's Bathtub Minstrel." These CDs are available in most CD stores, and on the band's website at Seth Yacovone Blues Band.

Q: OK Seth, so you've got your own band, got an incredible following, put out two CD's, you've been gigging most of New England, including Boston and Providence, you've worked in NYC, plus you've opened for BB King, Koko Taylor, the Radiators, Original P, the Neville Brothers, Roomful of Blues, and Dr. John. And . . . you're how old now?

SETH:  I'm 19.

Q: That's pretty phenomenal. Any problem working in clubs due to your age?

SETH:  The only problem we ever had was a show we were going to play in Laconia, NH about two or three years ago. It was sponsored by Southern Comfort, and they wouldn't let us play. Otherwise though, not really.

Q: Are you self-taught, or did you have your own guitar guru?

SETH:  I've taken lessons with many different people over the years, including Paul Asbell, Tom Smith and others. I've learned a lot in lessons, but I really learned how to play once I started home schooling, and had all day to play. And really, onstage with this band helped a lot, too. Marc Bigelow, who is an extraordinary guitar player from Wolcott, VT (where I'm from) was a huge inspiration to me, to see somebody that good from just up the street. Taking lessons from him really improved my ear and eyes, as well as my playing, so if there was a guitar guru...it was him.

Q: How do you feel about the level of success that you've experienced so early?

SETH:  I'm obviously glad that people seem to like the band, and that we have been able to play some really cool shows and events. I just want to keep playing and improving personally, and with the band.

Q: When did you start playing the guitar, and was the blues your first influence? Who were you listening to?

SETH:  I first started playing when I was eight years old, on a Play It Again Sam $75 acoustic guitar in fact! The first album I ever owned was Michael Jackson's "Thriller." (I'm an '80s boy) Then, I got into heavy metal. My parent's record collection was a huge influence. The Beatles, The Stones, Cream and stuff like that was what I got into when we got our record player fixed. Eventually I started checking out cover tunes that all were written by Willie Dixon, and things like that. Through Zeppelin, Johnny Winter, Clapton and Hendrix I started to dig deeper into old blues. When I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan live, that pretty much cemented that deeper.

Q: I've noticed that you don't stick with one guitar for very long. What's the rotation cycle been like, and are you searching for that perfect ax, or do you just enjoy all of them? Tell us a bit about what you've used, and how they've worked, or didn't work for you.

SETH:  Well, I've owned a lot of different guitars. If it is a really good one, I'll keep it. I was getting, and getting rid of one a year for a while. Right now, I have a Stevie Ray Vaughn Strat that is my main guitar. It is in need of a refret very badly, so I haven't played it much lately. It has been modified with Sperzel locking tuners, graphite saddles, a new pickguard and three Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups.

I also use a Gibson Les Paul Standard. It is stock for the moment. I love both of these guitars but sometimes that Strat doesn't moan enough for my taste, and the Gibson doesn't feel as touch-sensitive. If you play quiet on a good Fender it can almost go away to nothing, on a Gibson, it always seems the same volume.

I read an interview this weekend with Frank Zappa, where he said that a Strat sounds like you're very directly playing notes, and a Les Paul gets you a sweat hog kind of tone. I agree. You can make both puke and vomit out strange sounds.

My last guitar is a Custom Shop Tele American Classic, which is like an American Standard with better woods. It has three Seymour Duncan pickups in it as well. It is a love of Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton that made me get it. I got BB King to autograph it, and now I don't want to play it or it will rub off. But I'm gonna.

Q: Do you use a stock amp, or has it been modified?

SETH:  I use a Blackface Super Reverb that has been modified by Bill Carruth, a great VT tech. He builds Luke's harmonica amps as well. I use the normal channel of the amp, which has reverb on it, and it has been made to fit my guitar sound and my style. I get constant loud complaints, and only play on 3. My settings are Volume on 3, Treble on 5, Bass on 5 and Reverb on 3. When I play my Les Paul I turn the bass to 3. It really sounds good with the volume at about 8 1/2.

Q: Any pedals or other outboard effects?

SETH:  I use a Fulltone pedal board powered by a Voodoo Lab power supply. This is my effects order:

Digitech Whammy/Wah->Boss TU-2 Tuner->Fulltone Clyde Wah->Crowther's Audio Hot Cake overdrive->Fulltone Fulldrive 2 overdrive->Danelectro Danecho.

My wobbler of choice has died. I plan to get a Fulltone DejaVibe 2 for Leslie and Univibe sounds. On the live album I used a DOD Vibrothang for that effect, but it sounded pretty cheesy. It did the job though.

Q: Where do you see yourself and your band five years from now?

SETH:  Who knows . . . you know. I don't know really. I hope that we have fun and can make a living doing this. We just got a new drummer, Steve Hadeka who is working out really well and he is going to enable us to keep growing and changing. He is a great player. We really have evolved since we started. Aside from line up changes, we have changed from a straight up blues band into an ugly mongrel of blues, funk, rock and weirdness.

Q: I understand that you're an official endorser for GHS Strings and Seymour Duncan. How did that come to be?

SETH:  Well, if I can remember, I told our manager Lee Diamond that we might as well send out a press kit of our stuff to GHS and see if they would give me an endorsement. I really love their strings that I use and figured, why not. So, after they said yes (which really surprised me) I said, why not send a press kit to Seymour Duncan too, because their pickups in my Strat just so improved my tone and I needed some more for other guitars as well.

Q: What GHS set do you play?

SETH:  I use GHS Nickel Rockers .011-.50.

Q: Are you working with any acoustic blues?

SETH:  I play in an acoustic duo with Brent Weaver. I have a blast doing it, and I get to do things that wouldn't work in the electric band. I also feel I can actually sing in the acoustic duo, whereas in the electric band I just kind of grunt.

Q: Do you use any particular practice techniques, or do you cut right to the chase, and play for practice?

SETH:  I'm mostly the play-to-practice guy, but I do use some instructional videos, and play lessons in Guitar Player. I also studied a James Brown rhythm section book, working on playing the guitar grooves,then learning the bass lines, and then trying to pat the kick and snare patterns on my knees. I'm a pretty off-the-cuff player. I'm fairly sloppy and ragged, but I don't like things neat and clean. I prefer filth. The band does a lot of group improv on stage and we take a lot of chances. That has taught me more than any woodshedding.

Q: In addition to being an incredible blues guitar player, you've also got a great vocal style. How'd you manage to get both, when most people don't even have one?

SETH:  Well, thanks. I just try to feel whatever I'm doing. I try to mean it. I always fine good intentioned music is better than good music for the wrong reasons. So I figure, if I'm in the moment of what I'm doing,even though I don't have the prettiest or strongest voice, or the most range or accuracy, if I feel it, it won't really matter.

I love Tom Waits, Howlin' Wolf, Bob Dylan, Richard Manuel and Otis Redding. I just open my mouth and hope something comes out.

Q: Seth, I've seen you perform many times, and one of the most underlying, yet striking elements of your performance is that you always seem to have way too much fun! Is it always as enjoyable as it looks?

SETH: That's just because you've come on the good nights:) I have a lot of fun. It is awesome to get to do what you love and have people enjoy it, and make a little money from it, too. It's the best thing. So how can you not be psyched. But there are nights where I don't have as much fun, and you can tell. We had a really tough winter with a band member transition, and just weird vibes around, and I had fun at about two shows from January to April. I figured if I'm not having fun, why do this, but I feel rejuvenated with some new blood in the band, and I'm just excited to play as I ever have been now, if not more so.

For more information about the Seth Yacovone Blues Band, and to find tour schedules, audio-clips, and to buy the new CD "Yessir!" check out the Seth Yacovone Blues Band website at www.sethyac.com