Warren Haynes On How Gov't Mule Recorded Two New Albums At The Same Time

Gov't Mule and Warren Haynes tried to make the most of the pandemic pause by recording two separate studio albums concurrently.

The first of the two LPs is the band's latest release, Heavy Load Blues, a sonic departure for the Mule and an exploration into the band's love for the timeless electric blues music of the mid-20th century.

Haynes tells Q104.3 New York's Ken Dashow that while he's been talking about making a true blues record for years, the layoff from touring provided a worthy opening (and plenty to be blue about).

"It was the perfect way to kind of deal with COVID," Haynes says. "The trick was, we wanted to make two records at the same time. We wanted to make a normal — if there's such a thing — a normal Gov't Mule record, and we wanted to make a blues record. But we wanted them to sound completely different from each other.

"So we found this place in Connecticut, the Power Station New England, that had two rooms adjoining each other. And we set up our normal toys in the big room with the high ceiling and we set up a bunch of small vintage amps in the small room with low ceilings. We just set up right on top of each other, no headphones, just playing live like we were onstage in a little small club."

Over a number of long days, the band would record for their next record in the big room during the afternoon and early evening and then switch to the smaller room at night to play the blues late into the night.

"It turned out to be a great recipe," he said.

Check out the full conversation via the player above!

Haynes also performs a short solo set, including Bobby 'Blue' Bland's "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City," George Harrison's "Give Me Love" and Elmore James' "Blues Before Sunrise."

Gov't Mule has a trio of New Year's concerts set for later this month — one at The Met in Philadelphia and two at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Go here for all the tour dates.