The Secret is in the Sauce

If you have been searching for that sound that hasn't quite hit mainstream America, all you need is a little G. Love. And a little Special Sauce.\nG. Love & Special Sauce has created a following of its own during the past seven years, and it continues to produce a unique sound. The band released its fifth album, The Electric Mile, Tuesday and has been touring around the country for weeks to promote the record. \nFor G. Love, this is a far leap from playing on the streets of Boston.\nG. Love, born Garrett Dutton, started playing guitar after his mother sent him to guitar lessons when he was 8. Years later, after only one year of college, G. Love decided to go to Boston to pursue his interest in music.\n"The reason I wanted to go to Boston was because, you know I was 19, and I just wanted to go off on my own and figure out who I was and see if I could make it playing music," G. Love says in an interview with Andy Garrigue for www.plan9music.com.\nG. Love soon found the people that would become Special Sauce. While he was playing shows in Boston, he teamed up with drummer Jeffrey "The Houseman" Clemens and later bassist Jim "Jimi Jazz" Prescott. \nWhen you listen to the deep soft sound of his voice, it is hard to put this musician in the typical mile-a-minute rock star lifestyle. Despite his calm demeanor, G. Love confesses that he is good when it comes to getting all of the work done on the album.\n"We all have a really good work ethic and can really plug away at things," G. Love says in a phone interview.\nLife on the road this time around has not been too bad either for the band. It has already done 18 shows and has three more scheduled after its Friday appearance at Notre Dame in South Bend.\nA few things make the good show into a great show. G. Love says it is a matter of everything working together, from the audience right down to his own heads.\n"If you get to the right energy level, the show can just glide," G. Love says.\nBut if you can't make it to the next show, the new album does a good bit of gliding itself.\nG. Love & Special Sauce's new 13-song release is a combination of all of the band's favorite musical forms, according to a press release. Hip-hop, blues, jazz, reggae, folk and a touch of country all come together in perfect harmony. \n"Any time we get to put out a record, it is like a victory. When you get a record deal, it is a blessing," G. Love says. "You are getting paid to pursue your art -- to get to take the thing you love and just focus on that."\nMany guest artists are featured on the album, including percussionist Billy Conway from Morphine and Jasper, who was featured on the band's self-titled debut album.\nG. Love's favorite tracks on the CD include "Night of the Living Dead," "Parasite" and "Sarah's Song."\nG. Love says he wrote "Sarah's Song" in high school and has never gotten around to putting it on an album. The 'Sarah' was a girl he had a relationship with in high school.\n"The relationship was not too profound," he says. "I am just really happy it made it onto the record."\nThe name of the album, The Electric Mile, has little story behind it, G. Love confesses. \n"One night, Jim ("Jimi Jazz") just pulled the title out of his head," G. Love says.