Bo Koster
Open Labs Exclusive Artist Interview
- by Tatiana Ryckman, Open Labs Staff Writer
When the show was starting the weather was cool. Cool for Texas. Cool like it might rain.
At a hotter time of day I'd walked across hot dirt and gravel to a cracked, wooden door labeled “Dressing Room.” After knocking timidly I pushed on the knob. There was some conversation about Nebraska, “Nothing west of Lincoln,” I agreed. Bo Koster came in and introduced himself. He looked around at the five or so guys sitting, standing around. “I feel like we're in a college dorm room and it's the morning after a big party,” he looked where the TV would be if it were his dorm, “like ESPN should be on.”
My Morning Jacket's new album, Evil Urges, just came out, they've been touring for months, and he's just started playing a Gen4 NeKo TSE. All at the same time. It's been a busy summer.
The sound on the new album is just one of many changes for the band. Bo sits back in a padded, sand-colored cavern on the tour bus, a miniature mansion on wheels. “The band from Tennessee Fire (their first album) to now is such a growth, out of the farm with Jim's 4-track.” He adds for emphasis, “I just found out that when Darla Records called Jim (lead singer) and offered him a deal to put out Tennessee Fire, they gave him like $500, just a couple hundred bucks ... he bought a 4-track, and that was [what] he made Tennessee Fire on. He's definitely come a long way since those days.”
Bo wasn't in the band during “those days,” but says he loves the opportunity to play songs from that record, even if it makes him feel like he's playing in a cover band. “I think everyone does after a while ... if you're a song writer and you wrote a song 10 years ago ... it's taken on a life of its own, and you've probably changed three times over.” But My Morning Jacket is the best My Morning Jacket cover band around, and even the songs themselves have changed with the band.
“We've been able to do some new arrangements of those old songs. They never played 'They Ran' [live]. It's been cool to bring those songs back and play them in different ways.” And now they're being pumped through an Open Labs NeKo, instead of a four-track on a Kentucky farm.
With a new sound comes new challenges, and for Bo, the main one was accurately, and actually, reproducing the songs on stage as they were on the album. He didn't want to fake it. “Literally, I was up all night for months on end trying to figure out how I was going to make it happen live. Then I found out about the NeKo and Open Labs.”
After months of fretting over logistics he went to Guitar Center and explained his problem, “I was like, 'I have all these old keyboards that aren't even MIDI that I want to sample, and I have these VSTs that I want to play live, and then I have all these other keyboards that I still play but I want to get rid of them.'”
Getting his live show put together was half the battle, the other half was feeling like he was playing an instrument, not a computer, “I like the act of taking out a piece of machinery and working with it in my hands. I was never excited or inspired by mouses and clicking stuff.”
The sales guys told him he should check out Open Labs, and pointed to a poster, seeming to glow with a celestial light. “I called Victor literally that day ... I don't know where I got his number ... and he was like, 'Yeah, okay man, it'll be great.' And I was like 'It's okay? It's going to work for me?' and he was just like, 'Yeah, yeah, it's great.'” And it has been.
Some of the smooth sailing has to be credited to Open Labs' incredible tech support. Especially Matt Presley, whose willingness to travel and technical savvy rescued Bo from a few complications, “some self-inflicted, some unforeseeable, but yeah, Matt is a savior.” With such a high level of tech support, Bo says he's still in the “honeymoon phase” with his NeKo. He jokes with a bemused grin, “I need to spend some good time with it, and get to know it ... I'm still learning about it. I still need to travel and explore the depths of its soul, find out what's really deep down in there.”
Sadly, it's going to be a few months before he can really dive into his NeKo, as the tour keeps him on the road and sleeping in a miniature bed in his miniature mansion. Finishing the European tour, and looking out over another four months on US roadways isn't the end of My Morning Jacket's Evil Urges tour, though. They continue on to Australia for what Bo describes as “what Lollapalooza used to be, a wild, traveling music festival.” After that, Bo says he hopes they'll take a break. And he'll finally have some alone time with his new keyboard. Further enforcing the image of marriage to the gear he admits, “If I didn't have that keyboard my life would be pretty miserable, I think.” I laugh, but he's serious.
Music is something Bo Koster's been serious about for a long time. “I was kind of, a not well-behaved kid,” he laughs. “I got in a lot of trouble basically up until high school. I couldn't seem to focus on anything. But for some reason piano was the only thing that made sense to me.” So with a determined eye on the Chickering upright in the living room of his parent's Cleveland home, he begged for lessons. “Finally [my parents] gave in. Mainly, they didn't want to give them to me because my brothers had tried and failed. They thought for sure I wouldn't last more than a couple of lessons.” But 30 years later he's still game for a lesson, “If I can find somebody who can give me one.”
Despite his passion for music and persistent dream of going on tour it took him until his late 20s to muster the courage to try it out. “I was one of those guys who was ridden with fear. I knew I could play the piano, and I knew I could play a bunch of styles, and I'd sit around my apartment when I had a day job and think, I could play with that guy. I could play with them. I could hang with them, but I never did it.”
The “Happy Birthday” banner that he takes out of the window is evidence of the birthday he had just a few days and cities before. Though he started playing at a young age, he calls himself an old man and seems to wish he'd followed Woody Allen's advice sooner, “You know that famous quote, '90 percent of success is showing up, the other 10 percent is easy'? I never did that 90 percent. I was always too scared.”
By God, fate, or the alignment of stars, no amount of cowardice was going to keep Bo from being a successful musician. Using the minuscule six degrees of separation to his advantage, he found himself working as a freelance musician alongside Mike Garson, David Bowie's longtime keyboardist. “[We were] making the music for the keyboards that play by themselves, Disklaviers, like Baby Grand pianos that play MIDI.” The opportunity to work with such a diverse and experienced musician not only helped Bo break out of his shell, it also helped reshape his idea of music. “We all grow up with these weird preconceived notions of what music is and we take it too seriously. It's just another language people are speaking in, it's just music, it's supposed to be for fun.”
Using new experiences and connections to round out his musical resume, Bo eventually met up with My Morning Jacket and the rest is history. Everything but what's left to come. Armed with a fantastic band and a new NeKo, that could be just about anything.
Artist Q & A
Q: How did you hear about Open Labs?
A: I was searching and searching for something that could help me realize the songs off our new album in a live setting. I didn't want to go the laptop route though (for various reasons). After visiting a lot of websites, and asking around, finally a guy at a vintage guitar shop, of all places, mentioned Open Labs to me. I checked out the website and called them up the next day.
Q: How has the NeKo changed your method of work?
A: I'm not sure I have a method of work! I've always been kind of at the mercy of what keyboards were lying around and what I could find in a cheap way. I would just mess around with whatever I had, and hope to get a little lucky and find a sound that I liked. I come from more of a piano/organ/vintage place, but I've always dabbled with synths. So, now with the NeKo, it's like I can be in a room full of synths from every era, and go through trial and error that way. It's a deep machine, so in terms of finding sounds, I kind of feel like Charlie in the chocolate factory.
Q: What is your NeKo's primary function, live or studio?
A: Both. I originally got it for playing live. But, it will be an intergal part of both things for me now. At this point, My Morning Jacket has made five full length albums, and numerous ep's and so forth. In order for me to be able to play live, and do all the original sounds justice, I absolutely need the NeKo. Unless of course I had a lap top and six keyboards on stage, but that isn't really an option for me. I like to keep it as lean and mean as possible on stage. I'm hoping that at some point I can get it down to just three. While recording Evil Urges I had used some VST's for the first time. I also used some older keyboards that didn't even have MIDI capability, classics like the Melotron, Arp String Ensemble, etc. There were also some vocals we did in the studio, that can't be replicated live. So, after we were finished recording, I knew I had to do some serious sampling to make it all happen live. I already had four keyboards that I was using live and I didn't have room to add another board. Luckily, I was able to use MimiK and sample all of the sounds from the Roland XP10, and now I play those sounds on the NeKo. And having the option to use a program like the Mtron in the live setting, is an added benefit and the same thing goes for any VST for that matter.
Q: What is your favorite software on the NeKo? How do you use it?
A: My favorite software is the Karsyn program. I do a a lot of sampling of vintage keyboard sounds, background vocals, and drum loops. Karsyn enables me to run multiple versions of a sampler so I can multi-task various sampled sounds within the same song. That, along with the ability to play VST's real time, in addition to the sampling, was really the clincher for me when I first started learning about the NeKo. Having a virtual rack that is easy to navigate is just amazing. I have over 35 song settings that are ready to go with one click.
Q: Which kind of keyboard have you owned in the past and how do they compare to your NeKo?
A: I've owned a lot of keyboards in the past. And in terms of capability, I've never come across something that can compare to this. This is the keyboard I've always dreamed of having.
Q: Has the NeKo changed the way you write songs?
A: I expect it will once I get back in the studio. I play a lot with older keyboards, guitar pedals, and stuff like that. But I'm also open to the virtual world as well. Just knowing that I can live in both worlds in the studio, and still be able to pull it off live, will make a big difference in the creative sense.
Q: How different is the composition process compared to the standard computer or laptop system?
A: Well, there's no separate gear needed. It's all encompassing. You don't need to go out and buy an audio interface, or a ton of plug ins, etc. It's all there for you. Completely self contained.
Q: Do you think the quality of your production now would be possible with another keyboard?
A: Absolutely not. For the things I need to do in a live setting, the Open Labs is the only keyboard available.
Q: Have you had any experience with our Tech Support and how does it rate with you?
A: The tech support from Open Labs is top notch. I can't say enough about it. Anytime I've needed anything from them, they've been there for me in a big way. That's really important for me and without it, I'd be lost.
Q: What is next for you and your NeKo?
A: Well, I've been on tour in the states and Europe for almost two months, and will continue to tour for the rest of this year. The NeKo will also be visiting Japan, and Australia later this year. Then hopefully I can get back in the studio with it. I can't wait for that.
Equipment Used
Purchased NeKo LX (Gen 3)
Artist Links