Campbell, Lee and Runion bring Fire in the Belly to Soulshine

This Sunday, thanks to the Kirby Endowment Fund and the Congregational Church, there will be a free concert “for the people” that will range in style from Old Time Gospel to Jazz/Fusion Rock. They’re even providing childcare and a reception after the concert.

While most of the line up seems to be based on traditional music styles familiar to the church community, the “jazz fusion” caught my attention because it was something a bit new and different. I first encountered Ronnie Campbell and Frank Lee last year and enlisted them to use their intriguing ambient sound to help score Chris Riddle’s 48 hour Film last year that was a romance set in a rug factory. But recording a film score is quite a bit different that performing a live concert.
I sat down with Ronnie Campbell and Josh Runion at one of their rehearsals to get a little more background on how they came to be involved with this event.

How long have you been playing together as a trio?
Josh: A year or two, but Ronnie and Frank have been playing together for ten years or more.

What are the influences for this band’s sound?
Josh: Percussionist Trio Gurto, Allen Holdsworth, King Crimson for the Chapman Stick.
Ronnie: Bill Frisell and a wide range of jazz, middle-eastern, and heavy metal music. Oh, and Frank loves Berl Ives.

Josh, how would you describe the Chapman Stick?
Josh: It’s a ten string touch instrument that allows you to play bass lines and guitar lines simultaneously. It has no body, just a fret board and I also plug into a Trigger Synthesizer. It’s like having three instruments in one.

When did you start playing it?
Josh: In 1999. You have to custom order it from Tony Levin. So, I called him at Chapman and got on the waiting list and have been loving it ever since. I also have been playing it for the past year and a half for a band in Greenville called fifteenfifteen. Ronnie sometimes will play guitar with us as well.

How did you learn to play it?
Josh: It came with a book and I taught myself. It’s like playing keyboard, very sensitive. I was a bass player and stick replaced the bass. I started teaching myself bass in 1994. It didn’t come with a book, I had to go to another store for that.

Ronnie how long have you been playing guitar?
Ronnie: Since I was twelve. I took lessons from Josh’s great aunt Ms. Johnson and my brother took piano at the same time. My brother and I played for Christmas and other “Mom” inspired events.

What was your first band?
Ronnie: Steve Smart and I called ourselves Campbell & Smart and played covers of Seals & Crofts, Gordon Lightfoot, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, and Cabbage Head. We played for the local beauty pageants and stuff.

Have you always played locally?
Ronnie: In 1986 I played in San Francisco with a band called National Debt. I played in New York for a six month orchestra gig four nights a week for the play Teasers produced by Howard Solomon. He’s the fellow who produced folks like Harry Nilsson, George Carlan, Lily Tomlin, Lennie Bruce and started the Café au Go Go. This was a show about a couple of male hairdressers who fall in love with the same girl. I nearly took a job in Atlantic City, but my grandfather had a stroke and my brother was getting married. At that point in time family seemed more important than dressing up in a leisure suit and learning dance moves to put on a show up north. So, I came home.

I’ve also played with Fast Forward and Ten Pound Test. From 1996 to 1997 I worked with Lee Holroy as well as working with Mike Brunski, and Chris Stack for various projects over the years.

How did you meet up with Frank?
Ronnie: We met at The Bears concert (Adrian Belue’s band) and Deborah Fitzgerald introduced us. We kept meeting at shows and I asked him to come and play with Mike Brunski. We called that band Cold Sweat and played for several parties and such. Frank hated that name too. He also introduced me to Tom Condor and who had a band called Condor. They had made a record and then lost their guitar player. So we played together in that band and then another of Tom’s bands called Political Asylum that was rebellious political poetic rock.

Eventually Frank and I started heading toward more experimental music. I play electric guitar with a Roland synthesizer and guitar treatments while Frank plays drums and we have recorded over 50 CDs worth of music just for personal interest.

How did Josh get involved?
Ronnie: Frank and I played for several parties, and Josh being an old family friend showed up at one and sat in with us. That was the beginning of Fire in the Belly.

How did you get involved in the Soulshine concert?
Ronnie: Lance called me. I played a Willie Porter song that he sang “Unconditional Love” for mother’s day last year at the church. This event was coming and so he called and asked if I would do it. I told him about Frank and Josh and the experimental mindscape music and he said “sure.” Basically we were invited and we accepted. Benefits and stuff like this are good ways to share what we’ve been working on mostly for ourselves.

Is there anything that people should know before hearing your music?
Ronnie: It’s best to show up with an open ear and open mind. We’re writing everything for this show so it will be audience friendly. We’re mixing composition and improvisation for the show inspired from this nice little mountain retreat with a creek, frogs, and crickets for inspiration.

The Soulshine concert starts at 2 p.m. this Sunday at the Congregational Church located at 210 Melrose Avenue in Tryon. The concert features the fine music of talented local musicians Straight From the Heart, The Willows, Fire in the Belly, and Crosscut.