Blues Traveler plans to bring ‘full Monty’ to Albany show

LOS ANGELES — When you get the call at 4:15 that you’d been expecting at 4 p.m., and the caller opens by profusely apologizing for calling late, you understand why Blues Traveler guitarist Chan Kinchla is known as one of rock and roll’s really good guys.

When you indicate the minor wait was no big deal, that you were just re-reading “The Scarecrow,” one of Michael Connolly’s best books, Kinchla is intrigued. He asks you about the author.

“He was a Miami reporter who moved to LA and worked for the Times,” you say.

“I’m an LA guy,” Kinchla, who also is an avid reader, says. “Tell me a little about him.”

Eventually the conversation turns to music and ’90s favorites Blues Traveler’s Jan. 28 show at the Albany Municipal Auditorium, and Kinchla reveals that he’s as much a music fan as you are.

“All of us in the band grew up listening to the Allman Brothers, Santana, Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead … all those classic bands,” he says. “I was influenced by them because I got to see all of them live … well, all but Led Zeppelin.”

“I’m one-up on you,” you say. “I got to see Led Zeppelin.”

“You bastard,” Kinchla says, not with malice but rather admiration.

“Yeah,” you say, “but I’ve never got to see Blues Traveler live, and that’s on my bucket list.”

“I’ll trade with you,” he says wistfully, and you continue a conversation that turns out to be one of the two or three best interviews you’ve ever been a part of.

Kinchla, who met up with BT singer/harmonica player John Popper in high school and started playing music together in 1987, talked with The Albany Herald about the band’s longevity, a long-awaited new album that’s in the works and plans for the show in Albany before an anticipated ’90s cruise out of Tampa later in the year.

ALBANY HERALD: You guys have been playing together going on 40 years now. Looking back, was that part of some grand master plan or was there that kind of script for you?

CHAN KINCHLA: We were a high school band, a bunch of kids with all kinds of crazy dreams. We just loved playing together, and we knew right away that John (Popper) was a singular talent. So, yeah, we always had those high school dreams that it would be cool to be in this band and keep making music together.

AH: Blues Traveler has always been part of the musical and, really, American consciousness. How have y’all kept from drifting apart, which pretty much every band not named the Rolling Stones eventually does?

CK: It helps that we were all high school friends. But this was always more than just being part of a scene for us. We’ve always loved playing live most; we love to improvise as we play. We never get tired of that. Through making records, having our stuff played on the radio and the live shows, that’s what’s kept us going. We’ve always said as long as it remains fun, we’ll keep doing this.

AH: People who “must” classify music tend to lump you guys into that mythical “jam band” category. But I don’t know of other jam bands that have had Top 10 radio hits. Does that label reflect who Blues Traveler are?

CK: We’ve always been weird that way; we straddle a lot of different genres. We came along before “jam band” was even a term. We grew up with a lot of musical influences, and we just kind of put our own spin on it. We thought of ourselves as a kind of neo-hippie band. I’ve always loved just writing cool songs, and I believe we’re more about songwriting than we are jamming. We’re quirky like that; we love all kinds of music. We don’t really ID with any one type of music.

AH: Blues Traveler’s music has been played in so many movies, TV shows, etc. I’m sure that’s lucrative; how did that come about?

CK: We don’t really have a lot to with that. Sometimes guys who are making a movie or whatever ask specifically to use our music. Other times, there are guys who do that for a living, find the music for a particular project. We’re all OK with that.

AH: What music do you listen to, assuming, of course, that you are into music?

CK: Oh, my God, I listen to music all the time. We grew up on what’s called “Classic Rock” now to the point that I’m almost burnt out on it. When you hear these same songs over and over, they kind of lose a little of their magic. I do love to play it, but I don’t listen as much as before. I listen more now to the singer/songwriter types, and it goes all over the place. I like Elliott Smith, Phoebe Bridgers, Death Cab for Cutie, Billie Eilish, McGee — there’s a lot of good Gen-Z music out there. In LA, there are a lot of cool acoustic shows to listen to. In fact, I released an album like that with my side project, W4RHORS3. With a unique voice like John’s, he’s Blues Traveler’s singer, so I kind of did an album with some of the best LA studio musicians where I do the singing.

AH: I’d heard about the album (“And the Horse They Rode in On”) and read good things about it. How did that come about?

CK: I quit drinking about five years ago, and being off the road I kind of became a Mr. Mom. I said I’d like to get a hobby, do something I like, and what I like to do is play guitar. So I got together with some great studio musicians — Paul Hill, Max Butler, Wally Ingram — and we made the album. It was a little different than playing with my “main squeeze.” The album is available now in day-glo green. When I was young, one of the first bands I obsessed over was the Police. (Drummer) Stewart Copeland made solo albums, and they were always that day-glo green, so this was tribute to him.

AH: You guys have worked with a lot of musicians over the years. Do you have favorites?

CK: We got a chance to play with the Allman Brothers, so that was amazing. We were doing a memorial show for Bill Graham at Golden Gate Park and got to sit in with them. Carlos Santana sat in with us one time, but he didn’t have a guitar. He played my old guitar and amp, and do you know what he sounded like? Like Carlos Santana!

AH: It seems the generation that grew up on Blues Traveler music is now the one with disposable income. Are they the primary fans you see at your shows, or are there multiple generations of fans?

CK: It’s pretty cool that the kids of the ’90s make up a good chunk of our audience now, but there are all ages at our shows. It’s always shocking — in a good way — when another new generation hears our music and comes to our shows.

AH: John Popper’s one of those charismatic kind of entertainers to those of us on the outside looking in. Is he a fun guy to play music with?

CK: He’s great. We were high school buddies, and even back then he was a singular, unique individual. We were obviously good buddies, but over these 40 years we’ve always stayed close.

AH: Any plans for new Blues Traveler music?

CK: We are slowly getting our head space together in that direction. We’ve done Blues and Soul music the last couple of years, so we’re moving toward some new music. We’re slowly dipping our toes in the water.

AH: I appreciate your time so much. I’ll make this the last one: What can fans in Albany expect from you guys?

CK: It will be a full-on Blues Traveler show, the full Monty. We’ve been off a while, and we’re getting ready to do a ’90s cruise out of Tampa, so we decided to book some shows leading up to that. It will be a fun time.