Michael League playing guitar at Atlantic Sound Studios in Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo by Simon C.F. Yu
Following Snarky Puppy’s Feb. 15 Grammy victory for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, the band’s founder and leader, Centreville High grad Michael League, participated in this interview:
Q: How do you feel about your second Grammy win?
A: “When we won our first Grammy two years ago, we were all shocked. I have to say that, this time around, I was even more surprised. We were in the same category as two of my musical heroes, Marcus Miller and Bill Frisell. I almost felt guilty accepting it. But you have to remind yourself that you have nothing to do with the award, and that it doesn't reflect on the value of your band or any other of the nominees.”
Q: What made your album worthy of this award?
A: “The category was Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, so it's a wide-open category. The only prerequisites are that it isn't traditional or vocal. ‘Sylva’ is a very ambitious project, and very contemporary. It fuses elements from many different forms of contemporary music — from electronic to hip-hop — in an orchestral setting. As far as what makes it worthy of the award, if there is such a thing, is the amount of work that the entire team put into it. We had 64 musicians and over 20 administrative and technical crew [members], all working as hard and fast as they possibly could.”
Q: What's the toughest part of your job?
A: “The hardest part of band-leading is psychology. A band is a group of individuals, many of them strong personalities, and a band that tours relentlessly for over a decade strings an intricate web of complex relationships. We're brothers and we love each other; that keeps us together. But as the leader, you'll never make a decision that makes every last person happy. And it's hard to come to terms with that. All you can do is try your hardest to make the right call for the greater good, and hope that your peers trust you.”
Q: What's the best part of your job — what gives you the most satisfaction?
A: “It's hard to say what my favorite part is. I love the family atmosphere that we have as a group. I love traveling and experiencing new cultures and people. I love creating and seeing it affect people around the world. I couldn't choose one thing if I had to.”
Q: What's next for the band?
A: “There is a lot on our plate right now. We just released our 10th album, ‘Family Dinner - Volume Two,’ which features eight guest vocalists, including David Crosby and Laura Mvula. And our 11th, ‘Culcha Vulcha,’ a 13-track instrumental album, comes out at the end of April. I know, we're crazy.
“We're touring for three months throughout North America, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia, beginning in late April, including a Washington, D.C.-area show and a clinic at Jammin' Java [in Vienna], where I used to play as a high-schooler! Then I'm opening a studio in Brooklyn in the fall and producing seven records for different artists, as many of the Snarky Puppy guys make solo albums. We're in work-mode right now, for sure.”
Q: When you were a student at Centreville High, did you ever imagine you'd go so far in your music career and someday be a world-famous composer and musician?
A: “Even reading that question makes me laugh! I don't think of myself that way, at all. I make music and people around the world listen to it, but it's the same for anyone who posts a video on YouTube. The Internet has made the world a smaller place, and I love that.
“When I was in high school, and even to this day, I try to never expect anything. I do what I think is best and plan for it to succeed, but I never expect it. Expectation breeds entitlement with success and resentment with failure. And to me, success is merely the byproduct of thousands and thousands of tiny decisions. So I focus on the little things.”