the hum / By Bob Doran

Homecoming

Howlin’ Rain’s Ethan Miller and former Weary Boy Mario Matteoli are back in town

(May 22, 2008)  I don’t imagine they know each other, but Ethan Miller and Mario Matteoli have followed parallel paths. Both were born and raised in Eureka. Both left Humboldt County just out of high school and established music careers elsewhere, then quit their bands to establish new projects. And both are coming home this week for shows at the Jambalaya.

Matteoli relocated to Austin, Texas, with some like-minded Eurekans and formed the successful alt. country band The Weary Boys, then left that band to go solo following a new muse.

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Miller moved to Santa Cruz and formed the successful alt. rock band Comets on Fire, then left that band to explore new musical directions with a band called Howlin’ Rain.

“I’d worked really hard for my part with Comets on Fire, and really dedicated my life to that, both my musical life and my personal life,” said Miller, reached at his home in Oakland. “We’d made four albums. When you think of yourself as an artist, you never want to become too comfortable with what you’re doing. You don’t want to think, ‘Hell, I can dial this in. Another Comets record? No problem,’ like this is what I’m known for, I’ll do that again.”

So, in part because he was moving in a different direction, musically, but also just because he felt a need go his own way, he left Comets at its zenith. “I had songs I’d written, a catalog of songs accumulated that were more personal to me, that were not something I was writing for this entity that was already formed. They were something for me, where I could control the overall vision. I wanted to let them take on a life of their own.”

Does the Howlin’ Rain name connect back to Humboldt? “Maybe a little bit subconsciously,” he said. “Certainly the physical and metaphysical characteristics of the area, especially the Southern Humboldt area, will forever be part of my artistic landscape. My family owns a summer cabin in Southern Humboldt so I spend a lot of time up there. I go there to write and to relax after tours. And my folks are still up in Eureka, so I’m up there a lot too.”

And he’s booked to play here twice: Wednesday, May 28, Howlin’ Rain plays at Jambalaya with two Eureka bands, Arrogant Hare and Zak Institute, both including members from Miller’s local musical past. H. Rain returns Sept. 10, opening for The Black Crowes at the Van Duzer. “That was a fun surprise,” said Miller. “I think that one will be a bit more expensive, and harder to get into.”

Former Weary Boy Mario Matteoli was working his way up the California coast with a new solo disc when I found him in SoCal. Despite his nine-year Texas roots, the record is called Golden State, in part to reflect a brighter view of the world he’s taken on since falling in love.

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