Endlessly Ageless - Government Cheese

Having lived in Nashville during the mid 80’s through the mid 90’s, every time I would turn around I would get bombarded with this and that about a South Central Kentucky band called Government Cheese. While I was humming the bars of a BoDean’s song, there would be somebody flapping their lips about how utterly cool Government Cheese was.

Of course having my own connection with the area, any time Bowling Green was mentioned my ears would perk up and then it would just be one more snippet about these goofs. Here I was pointing to the Mavericks or Foster & Lloyd or Roseanne Cash as the new direction of music…not quite country and not quite rock…and people were telling me, ‘Franne they are on the same road to a  new sound’ and I would make the motion as if to gag and roll my eyes.

Well nearly 20 years later here we are. I’ve migrated north to Bowling Green, they call that sound Americana and I’ve turned into ‘a ready to fight if you insult the Cheese’ Cheesehead. My true education on who Government Cheese actually was—eh is— came from an art school classmate by the name of Dan Dilamarter. Dan had just left the Blue Cha-Chas and had started another band, The Guild, and through endless hours spent in close proximity in a variety of art studios, I was schooled. Never in a lecture form, it would just be me watching Dilamarter sing along or make some motion to a song. Other people wondering in and out of whatever studio we would be in that day would take the chance to comment, ‘Love that song!’ so along with the Phish, Widespread Panic, The Grateful Dead, and the Guild practice tapes, Dan Dilamarter passive aggressively broke my resistance to Government Cheese. Then he introduced me to Ned Hill and the rest is as they say… is folklore.

Like so many other local fans I held my breath when Tommy Womack started blurting out things about a Government Cheese reunion and re-mastered music. Like that phantom that chased me all over Nashville, the reality of it all materialized in front of us all. On February 12th, 2011 Government Cheese takes the stage of Ellis Place in Bowling Green, KY for the first show of their reunion and on the merchandise tables will be a beautiful CD of re-mastered material that is an anthology of songs—some we will all know and some we’ve never heard.

I, unlike so many of Cheeseheads that will be on the floor with me on the 12th who have seen Government Cheese play back in the days of Picasso’s, will have my first live Cheese experience. Until now I’ve only had YouTube and the remnants of stories. Occasionally I’ve gotten glimpses of the members performing with other bands like Billy Mack in Moral Chain of Custody or Viva Becker with Ned Van Go, Skot Willis with Geek Love Explosion and of course Tommy Womack singing his version of the truth of existing in the modern world.

My enduring friendship with Ned Hill, who is Billy Mack’s older brother, and the casual familiarity to all of the band members of Government Cheese, with the exception of Joe King, put me in the wonderful position of covering this reunion event in a unique way. It’s given me the grand opportunity to point to the legacy they’ve left us all. Though it often saddens me and frequently irks me while others are celebrated for the contributions to the musical greatness of our region, these five men are more often than not are over looked. There are few that ever acknowledge that the door that got kicked open, allowing for a flood of young musicians to strike forth from South Central Kentucky into the genres of rock and punk and even Americana, was done by Government Cheese. As the youth of this day and age shake their head in wonderment how Cage the Elephant came out of a small town in Kentucky and then as they start connecting dots to New Grass Revival and the Kentucky Headhunters and to the countless others that have their roots to our region, it seems only justice that the reunion and celebration of Government Cheese is the headliner….finally.

I started the interview process with Tommy Womack via e-mail.

Franne J.:How long have you been trying to get everyone back together to do this project and actually have shows?

Tommy W. :Not long. Talk started maybe a couple of months before the record came out.

Franne J. :Really? I swear I’ve heard you’d been trying for years to get this done. So that is totally false?

Tommy W.: The PUTTING TOGETHER of the record took five years! That was a long process, and I did all that. What I meant was that getting the guys together starting getting talked about in the last couple of months before the release and came together very easily.

Scott Willis: Tommy and I got excited discussing putting out an anthology a few years back. He got REALLY excited and posted a blog on his website late one night and the next thing you know we had investors and money for the project. Then we had to do it. Tommy got the rights to the music back from Reptile Records and the wheels were in motion, sorta. Delays went on for several years and it became a huge monkey on Tommy’s back. Investors like by pal Skip Walker would ask me “When is the CD coming out?”. “Uh…..Have you asked Tommy?” this went on for several years. Then the 25th anniversary of the band was Sept 2010. Tommy made that his goal, busted his butt, and made it happen.

Michael Romanowski, who was in GoGo Surreal back in the Cheese days, did a fantastic job remastering the CD. All the tunes sound like they work together even though they were all recoded in different locations over many years. He does great work.

Franne J. :How much totally new material is on the CD. How much is material that you all already had written but never done much with until now?

Tommy W.: We didn’t record anything new for the record. All tracks are vintage Cheese, 13 of which have never been released before.

Franne J. : How did you all decide what went on this CD?

Tommy W.: I did the sequence and went through all the stuff we had. That was the hardest work, deciding what to put on and what to leave off. In some cases, the version of a song that was on a previous record is not the version that is on the anthology, because there was a take in the can that was better than the one that originally came out. The stuff is not in chronological order either. I sequenced it like it was a Cheese concert, start strong, do some big “hits” early on, then have some ebbs and flows, but keeping the sequence interesting to the listener from song to song.

Franne J.: Will there be a Volume 2?

Tommy W.: I doubt it. I can see offering good still unreleased stuff from the vault up on the web in the future – there’s plenty of it! – but a full-blown package like this one is? Doubt it.

So the next most obvious thing to ask given the responses I was given was in regards to the countless rumors about why it had taken so long. When I asked Tommy Womack if there was any truth to the rumor that Scott Willis was the hold out, his response only strengthened by starry-eyed admiration for him when he wrote back:

Tommy W.: It was Scott. There was no animosity about his reluctance. It had more to do with the demands of his job, which are considerable. I think he may have also had some fears if we could rise to the challenge after having not played in so long. But let me say this about Scott. Once he committed, he was all the way in, and he’s been very active since. Everyone in the band is into the reunion 100%.

And when I asked Scott Willis, he replied with:

Scott Willis: OK I was the hold out. I admit. My job as a Columbia sales rep is 24/7 with weekly travel, weekend trade shows, meetings, blah, blah, blah…. When I get home from the road I want to spend time with my family and friends. I knew these gigs would take many rehearsals and a lot of solo practice. I did not want to sacrifice the personal time I have to be pressured by the thought of gigs. I don’t consider myself a musician and I have not played these songs in years. I am not able to just jump on stage and play like many in the local scene. I have to put in a bunch of prep work to remember lyrics, chords, etc. Some of these songs we have not played in 20+ years. We have a 37 song set list right now and yes, I am guilty of adding songs to the list. I know people will want to have some surprises at the show. We got kinda lazy in the final days and played the same set over and over. This new set really shakes it up.

After I heard the CDs and I saw the incredible package Tommy and Paul Needham put together I knew I had to do the shows. The CD was much better than I could have ever hoped for and I knew it would be great to see the ole Cheeseheads again. This seems more like a class reunion than a show. It should be a total blast.

Franne J.: He (Tommy Womack) then added that once you were on board you we’re hell on wheels to get things going. Do you miss all the craziness?

Scott Willis:  Yep. I miss the insanity. Facebook is a Godsend for promotion. Once we started the discussions the idea caught fire. At first we had 4 shows planned but then we realized we should just do two. The band got together at WKU when I was studying marketing. Marketing is a passion and I loved the days back when we promoted the band. Back in the day we had minimal resources but we managed to get the word out and draw people to our shows with whacky ideas. An early flyer said, “Only the Alibi has enough guts to book Government Cheese” which featured a photo of us wearing Michael Jackson ‘Beat-It” t-shirts. People came. Some were sorry they came but many people had a blast.

We would do just about anything to get people to the shows and once people came we would do whatever it took to entertain people. Open the CD cover and you can see a photo of Tommy with his pants around his ankles. Yes, no one was getting into the show that night so we dropped our pants around our ankles and played songs with serious faces. Of course that changed the gig completely and people started paying attention and the show got crazy. Memories were made and word spread that you needed to see this band to believe it.

We played BG so often that we had to do whacked ideas to keep the crowds coming. We played as “Kiss in Drag” in full makeup and dresses one eve. Another night we played as “The Turds” wearing black wigs. Billy came up with an oven mitt idea. Bring an oven mitt and get in free. We had lamps on stage. Bring a lamp and get in free. Weird things worked well. In different towns people would be in line to get into the show carrying lamps.

We worked hard to make every show an event. There was no way I was going to be in a band that just showed up to play in hopes that people would show up. We always did what we could to get in local print, radio, TV before the gigs. The only way to do that was to have a story.

So never was it some past grudge or disagreement or the countless other nonsensical things I’ve heard over the years. It was just life…which is so very Government Cheese.

My favorite GC song has long been “Mammaw Drives the Bus”. Never has it been said that it’s a solid classic rock standard. It’s always been that it is a great song about something real and not a hot chick or forlorn love or partying all night; it’s about the reality of living with your granny—sorry your mammaw. Reflecting on that, I was curious to know where forth did the lyrical craziness of Government Cheese come from anyway.

Franne J.: I’d like to know as to where some of this bizarre material came from.  I love it, but it was so out of the norm from any other pop/rock coming out of Nashville…I know I lived there during that time…that there’s got to be a story or fantastic reason why.

Billy Mack: Many of my songs came from childhood memories.  Mammaw of Mammaw Drives the Bus lived with my family in Horse Cave. That’s me, mom, dad, a sister, and three brothers including Ned and Mammaw under one roof with one bathroom.

Flora Hill (aka Mammaw) who studied music at the Conservatory of Music in Rochester New York and later taught public school music moved in with our family following my grandfather’s death. Our house was a three ring circus filled with music and candid disclosures. Dad coined phrases that left me speechless such as “you need to go camping like you need 40 motor scooters up your ass” and “run with loosers, be a looser” He always had a charcoaled filter lark cigarette parked between his fingers and used it to punctuated his wise cracks. Mammaw would slap her knee telling stories and entertaining all that enter our home. Anyway Mammaw Drives the Bus was written to celebrate her wackiness.

The Shrubbery is Dead was written about my dad. My dad practice medicine in Horse Cave. In the days before specialized medicine, a general practitioner deliver babies, perform minor surgeries and would see 50 to 80 patients a day. Dad enjoyed winding down with drinks at the end of the day and this sometimes ended with a slip in the lawn or a tumble into a bush. Dad quit drinking in 1975 and helped many others seeking treatment to beat their addictions.

Tommy Womack’s comments on this were in the same line.

Franne J.: So many of the songs I love so much from GC are lyrically fun and make me laugh, but sometimes when I’ll play them  for other people they just don’t get it. Did you have that problem as you guys  started to venture away from BG and KY? Was it harder to play on home ground than away? Did your parents come to the shows? I was wondering if Momma Hill will be at this one. Ned said, “83 and she’s still mowing the yard.”

Tommy W.: No, the sense of humor went over well with most people everywhere we went. Humor is so often related to the time it was conjured up in, I guess. All the guys’ parents came to shows occasionally, except (snif) mine. I’m the one member of the band who never had a relative see Govt. Cheese play.

Perhaps their strange lyrical style is what has set them apart from the rest in my heart and with so many others. Maybe it was the hair. Maybe it was country boys gone wild. Maybe it was just the pure love of what they were doing that separated them from the lack luster packs rolling out of Nashville at the time.  When I asked Scott Willis about his musical ventures outside of GC, I remembered….

Franne J: I did a story on Geek Love Explosion was that the same itch or different one?

Scott Willis: We always thought the Cheese was not taken seriously enough due to the crazy stuff we did and said on stage and with songs like “Fish Stick Day”. For the last couple years of the band we refused to play that tune because people would chant it at the shows. Now we love the tune and want to give folks what they want. When I started the Geeks with John Martin, Mike Natcher, and the Gimp (Fenner Castner), I wanted to be taken seriously and be kinda like the Clash of KY in my mind. I wanted to say something deep. I wanted songs with meaning. I wanted to change the world. I wrote a song “This America”. It was about how bored I was with America and how I wanted to wake people up. Then 911 happened and I saw how trivial my movement was and I couldn’t play that song anymore without guilt. The last time the Geeks played was at a Jambodian’s show at Ellis Place in 1991 I believe. Donnie Bott joined in on guitar that night. After the set a woman walked up to me and said “You have a lot of anger”. That was it. I realized I could never make it in BG with this kind of band and we as a band were not 100% committed to making it outside of BG. I did not want to do it half ass. It was all or nothing for me. We were all older and lives had gotten more complicated. It was not easy to just not the road. We never played again. We never even broke up. I suppose we are still together. I still have songs I want to record with those guys.

Franne J: I talked Natcher at the Young Jambodians this past year. We had a discussion about all the music coming out of the region. Now I contend that Government Cheese was a huge catalyst for all this, as was NGR and the Kentucky Headhunters. Comment please.

Scott Willis: It would be great if we have influenced the new generation of BG musicians. That would make me proud. The main influence I hope we have had on the new generation is to not give up and don’t listen to people that say you suck. We sucked for much longer than we wanted. Tommy and I played U2’s “I will Follow” next to a tree at DUC on campus. Yes, him on guitar and me just jumping around and screaming. It must have been hilariously horrid. We kept going and never saw how bad it was. I am sure many trained musicians still think we suck. Those folks are probably not fans of The Gun Club like me either. This town is full of tremendous talent and it is great that I have been able to meet and get to know so many folks in this music scene.

Franne J: I think you guys had everything in the world to do with what’s happening here.  Do you? I mean Ned and Dan played in the same vein as you guys did. Certainly Natcher’s been influenced by you guys. Johnny Thompson too. How closely do you watch what’s coming out of BG?

Tommy W.: We apparently fostered a change in the musical environment in BG back in the ’80s, but the time was ripe and the ground was fertile and ready for someone to sprout. It just happened to be us. If Government Cheese hadn’t existed, someone else would have come along. It was in the air, the right time for it to happen.

So I went and asked Billy Mack.

Franne J.: Tommy and I have talked about how much I think you all shaped the future of music in this region as much NGR and The Kentucky Headhunters. He seems as cautious to agree as Sam Bush does about NGR or Greg Martin with the Headhunters, but with Ned being your little brother it becomes something different for you. Do you see the influence you had in Ned at all when you see him perform? When did you know he had the itch and the talent to play?

Billy Mack: Ned is actually 10 months older than me. As a teenager we both had a large vinyl collection and we would rock in rocking chairs like autistic kids listening to records and rocking for hours and hours. I started playing guitar at 15 and I could have been an extra in the “That 70s Show” getting high around the barrel furniture in our basement. Ned was a star high school basketball player who went on to play college basketball. In contrast to me, he was a straight A student who did not begin the party lifestyle until he moved to Memphis to attend college. Ned did not start playing the guitar until he was in his mid-twenties. He has become an awesome performer and songwriter and I’m very proud of him.

And then there is Viva. Known  to us townies as Chris Becker, Viva Las Vegas has always been, in my mind anyway, more with what ever Ned Hill’s been doing musically than the 5th member of Government Cheese.

Franne J.: Would you mind telling me the story behind how Viva came to be in the band from guitar tech?

Tommy W.: He’d been our roadie for a couple of years and took up filling in on guitar near the end of the show so Skot could just jump around without having to play an instrument. We liked the sound being fully with Viva on board. So one night (early morning really) in the van after we’d dropped him off from a gig, I suggested to the other guys that we just make him a full member. Everyone assented. And, heh, it meant he took a pay cut. The roadie always got paid first. Not after he joined though!

Franne J.: How did you end up with one Becker brother but not the other one?

Tommy W.: One Becker brother is enough!

Franne J.: We talked about Viva… so it’s your turn.

Billy Mack: Viva once sent me a sock of belonging to Gary Coleman. He and his brother Pat moved to LA to play music and to embrace the Hollywood dream. To pay the bills he worked for a house cleaning service and Coleman’s house was on the list. Knowing that I’m a huge Gary Coleman fan, he lifted one of Coleman’s little argyle socks and mailed it to me.  

The obvious thing to ask of these Kentucky pioneers was what each one was hoping would come from all this. Both Tommy Womack’s band Daddy, that has a new CD slated for release, and Ned Van Go have done remarkably well considering they are completely indie and surviving in the music corporate hell that is  Nashville right now. Joe ‘Elvis’ King can be heard on Nashville’s 105.9 The Rock. Scott Willis continues his service to Columbia and his quiet obsession with sport cars.  Yet still Billy Mack and Tommy, with their lives as hectic as they are, find the time to preserve and promote Government Cheese.

Franne J.: So what would you like to see come from all this GC revival interest?

Billy Mack: I would love to see a low budget made for TV movie or maybe a popup book. I’m working on a Government Cheese documentary that should be complete in a couple of months.   www.billymackhill.com

Scott Willis: As far as the gigs go I hope we can bring back some memories for the Cheeseheads. People are coming from all over the country for the gigs. We may give away an autographed oven mitt to the person that traveled the farthest.

The rest of the story and the fun will happen when they take the stage on Feb 12th at Ellis Place in Bowling Green. Having been stupid and there by deprived in my youth, I’ll be dragging my 22 year old, Jack White obsessed daughter, Mia to the show at the Rutledge on Feb 26th  to make up for lost time. My personal goal for Government Cheese is teach my grandson Cameron “Fish Stick Day” and there by making him the coolest kid in school and to hear him say to the un-cool…”Dude it’s the Cheese..catch up!”

About the author: Franne J. has lived in 5 major cities and 7 states, but has always loved this area and considered Bowling Green home. She’s been a part of and writing about the local art and music scene, off and on, since the mid-90’s. Find her on Facebook.