Jimi Haha is the last remaining original member of Annapolis-based rock band Jimmies Chicken Shack, but that's not to say the band isn't still alive and kicking.
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Haha, drummer Jerome Maffeo, bass player Christian Valiente and guitarist Matt Jones have just put out "Fail On Cue," the band's fourth national record, and the first that features the current line-up.
The band will showcase new material from the album, as well as old favorites tomorrow night (Friday April 18) at Whiskey 1803 on West Street here in Annapolis.
I had a chance to talk to Jimi a little bit about "Fail On Cue" and the decision to stick around Annapolis, even when things were booming for the band in the late 1990s.

So "Fail On Cue" is done, it's out.
Well, we just released it at shows (and it's also available online at CDbaby.com). Hopefully we'll do a proper release, we're just trying to set up distribution.
Are all of the songs fairly new or are some of them ideas that have been kicking around for a while?
There might be...I think the oldest song on there is about six years old. There is only one of those, the rest were written in the past year or two and we did one cover song which we never did on a record before.
You cover Fugazi's "Waiting Room," and like you said it's the only cover you guys have recorded for an album. Why that song?
Umm..We've been playing that song since..I don't remember when. We play it so much and people really like it. We never did a cover and I just wanted to pick a song that was pretty taboo. That's probably the most taboo song we could pick.
Do you have any favorite songs on the new album?
That's tough because I never really have favorites. Two songs I really like are probably are mellowest ever, "Quiet Ones" is one I've liked a lot and "Good At It." They are really nice songs.
Have you had a chance to test most of this stuff out live?
We did a CD release party in January at the Recher (Theatre in Towson). We did a lot of new tunes and we've been playing some of them in the set for a while now.
Your records are all different and, within each one, the songs are kind of all over the place as far as genres go. Is there anything distinct about this album that sets it apart to you from the other ones?
Yeah, it's hard to say because they are all "scattered brains." I like to say it's music for people with ADD. I think sonically, it's the one that we produced ourselves, and it has it's own sonic quality compared to the other three. Directionally, it goes to further extremes.
You have had different musicians in the band over the past decade and each album features a different version of the band. Looking back can you see how that influenced the sound of each album?
Oh yeah. It definitely changes with the mood of who is in the band. This current version of the band, for me, is the best that the band has been. We also get along and that kind of comes through in the music. I wrote some songs with Matt, our guitar player, and you definitely sense that. The last record had co-writes with a lot of guys from other bands and I think it sounds like it, it adds to the mood of that album. I can go back and go "Oh, I know why it sounds like this," you know if I remember a certain feeling or tension.
Do you ever sit down and try to write an album or do you just kind of write songs and whatever comes out comes out?
I don't think I've ever sat down to write an album and said "this is what it's going to be about." Occasionally I've tried that with a song, but it usually doesn't come through, although it has a couple of times. Most of the time it's an inspiration thing. I'll just get hit by someone and write it really fast and it's done.
Matt would give me ideas or riffs that he was messing around with. He'd give me tons and I'd use the ones that struck me. It always struck him which ones struck me to write to. Actually, if there is one big difference with this record it's that the songs were written before we ever played them as a band. They were built and we were doing a lot of writing in the studio.
In the past, the first record was a bunch of songs that we had been playing for a while. The second record was some stuff we had like that, and stuff that we got together in the practice space and would demo. This record is definitely different in a sense that we didn't necessarily know what was going to end up on it. We demoed songs we had been playing and if we had an idea we would just throw it down and then people would play with it and see how we felt.
You have a couple big hits and did a lot of national touring package tours and festivals. Did that whole experience teach you how to survive as a career musician?
Without a doubt. It was our first exposure, getting the name out there and playing. That helps people know who you are. We got to work with different producers, and see how that is done. Knowing what makes you happy and inevitably figuring that out is really the basis for why you do it. We don't have someone lurking over our shoulders now, we can do whatever we want.
I've read interviews with you in which you talk about label "suits" trying to direct your band one direction or another.
Oh definitely. There were moments where the A & R people were like "we don't feel that song." We demoed a bunch of songs for Island. There's a song on the new record, "Mutha Luvas," and this is what it's about. It was weird because they were telling us there was too much ska or reggae in our music, yet it's Island records who has Bob Marley's stuff. They would just be like "We can't do anything with that at radio. It really showed me that I needed to say "OK, well enough of you." We'll get people working on the record, trying to prove yourself all over again. I want to make it untethered and just make the music with no criteria or sense of judgement. No, "where's the radio single." You know what, there are ten singles.
You guys are very "do-it-yourself" now, and you're a full-time musician, right?
Yes. I play in another band called the Jarflys, I paint. That's all I do, music and art.
You write some songs for TV now and then don't you?
A friend and I did some music for ESPN and occasionally we submit things to FOX, just 20 or 30 second theme-song-for-shows type songs. Some of those, a couple of them have turned into songs. One of them is a Jarflys song now. We have had Chicken Shack stuff in movies here and there.
Was there ever a point in time when you didn't think you would be able to have this kind of career and stay in Annapolis?
Not really. I mean Chicken Shack never really plays Annapolis a lot. Recently we have played at Whiskey 1803 and the Federal House. Those are different to play and we have fun. I never thought, "Oh because I'm here I can't make a living." The east coast in the most populated side of the country and we are centrally located. We can play up and down the coast, and it's fairly easy. On the west coast, everything is far apart. You know, D.C. is so different from Baltimore, and then you have Richmond, Philly, New York. In California, L.A. and San Francisco are so far apart, it's such a massive state.
Are there any other projects you are working on right now?
Yeah, I have a thing I put up on Myspace called the Irresistible Smell of Decay. It's just me in the studio and it's kind of a stream of consciousness kind of writing. Start with one thing and loop it, then just play with it and build a song with no goal whatsoever, lyrically as well. I work on it and then after I'm done I'm like, "Wow I never would have written this." Every project I've done is drastically different.
Is there anything, musically that you are into right now?
I don't listen to a whole lot of music because I play it so much. I like a lot of different, mellow stuff. I think Pete Yorn is great. Iron and Wine, Creeper Lagoon, Pinback -- the last couple of years they have been blowing up. I wasn't thrilled with their live show, but I love their records.
So what will be cooking for you guys in the next few months, and what things might you be working on for the future?
We are definitely playing gigs, we'll keep doing that. We have a live DVD that was shot. We will edit that and put it out. I think I might do a solo acoustic live in the studio, maybe a ten song record old chicken shack stuff, maybe a couple Jarflys songs and a couple I never put out on anything. We will start working on a new Chicken Shack record as well. The traditional album cycle was 3 or 4 years, which leaves such a huge gap between records. Now we don't have to play to that. I think we can start doing a record a year. I like ten song records. Pretty soon, no one is going to be making full CDs, they will just be releasing songs. I like making albums, a collection of songs with art. Hopefully we can get a CD out every year, and maybe do little acoustic records in between that, maybe a DVD or something. There is no one holding us back form doing as many releases as possible. If we start making a lot of records, I'd like to do a whole acoustic album of Jimmies Chicken Shack stuff, a live record or a DVD to serve as a live record. We only answer to us now, so anything is possible.