Unprecedented levels of weirdness Wednesday nite in Morgantown

Keep it weird: Jason Sells and O Lendario Chucrobillyman pose at the Mothman statue en route to Morgantown Wednesday night for a show with Weird Paul at 123 Pleasant Street

Morgantown will see a heavy influx of one-man bands Wednesday night, as Jason Sells (aka Slate Dump) welcomes his new friend, Lendario Chucrobillyman to 123 Pleasant Street, with Weird Paul Petrosky rounding out the weirdness.

Sells and Chucro, on his first trip to the U.S. from Brazil, have been staying busy, rocking out, or just hanging out, seeing the sites as they’ve played the Pops Resale Anniversary show this past weekend, and have toured West Virginia over the past few days.

Speaking over the phone from Nitro Wednesday night, the pair talked about the highlights of Chucro’s first trip to the U.S. -- shows, the sights, and oh yes, Tudor’s Biscuit World.

“We’re just hangin loose,” Sells said as the two spoke over speakerphone, something of a conference call of sorts. “The past few days have been pretty awesome. I’ve tried to take him to as many historic spots and sites of folklore and beautiful scenery here in southern West Virginia, and hopefully show him and his entourage a good time.”





Chucro, speaking better than expected English with his Brazilian accent, said his inaugural tour of the states has been pretty cool so far.

“Yeah this is my first time here in the United States. I’m enjoying the sights and the scenery here in West Virginia. The shows have been real cool and it’s awesome to be here playing my music, mixing Brazilian zeal with the blues. It’s been real cool for me.”





Sells and Chucro were joined by “friend of Slate Dump” J Marinelli at the Pops Resale anniversary show in Lexington over the weekend. And while Marinelli raved about Chucro’s set on the illustrious WVRockscene Facebook wall, Chucro said the admiration was indeed mutual.

“Oh it was awesome, yeah. James Marinelli is a very good player, and I liked his show. I’m enjoying everything and Jason is having a good sound too.”

During their stay in Nitro, it appears that Sells turned Chucro on to true West Virginia fare: Tudor’s Biscuit World.

“Yeah,” Chucro said laughing hard. “I’m liking very much mainly the biscuits and gravy. It’s perfect,” laughing some more.

Chucro said he’s looking forward to playing 123 Pleasant Street, then heading to New York for a few shows, then, traveling to Austin, Tejas for gig-related activity.

“We’re going to New York after Morgantown for a few shows. Then, going back to Austin. We’re driving down there. People are saying we are crazy. But it’s the cool way to do it.”

Sells said he’s also looking forward to the upcoming March on Blair Mountain.

“You know, I’m gonna go off on one of my rants, as I always do. It seems like the system is set up to keep poor people ignorant, and keep them inundated with propaganda and keep people in a cycle of poverty. They’re doing nothing but destroying the air and the water and blowing up mountains and then dumping entire mountains into valleys and filling up the streams. I don’t want West Virginia to become a moonscape. I’m proud to be a Mountaineer, and part of being a Mountaineer is loving mountains. Montani Semper Liberi, and the whole nine. Anyone who calls themselves a Mountaineer and is pro-mountaintop removal is a fool, or worse.”

And Morgantown is in for a treat Wednesday night, with Chucro, Slate Dump and the appropriately named Weird Paul Petrosky.



‘They’re gonna see weird on an unprecedented level,” Sells said. “We’re gonna be pushing the envelope all the way, blowing minds and havin’ fun.”

Related: Jason Sells (aka Slate Dump) coming to V Club (H-D article), Jason Sells on his “Reclamation Tour”

Jason Sells (aka Slate Dump) coming to V Club

Reposted from The Huntington-Herald Dispatch

Talking to Jason Sells over the phone, you get the sense that he has an old soul.

The 33-year old Beckley native and Memphis, Tennessee resident’s humble Raleigh County roots come through loud and clear.

“I don't care to talk about myself, honestly,” Sells said from Memphis as he ferried Sao Paulo, Brazil’s Jam Messengers (Rob K and Uncle Butcher) about, sightseeing during a few days off on their U.S. tour, which Sells (also known as Slate Dump) jumped on.

The tour brings Sells and The Jam Messengers to The V Club, 741 6th Ave., Friday, Jan. 28.

“I’m going to show them around Memphis,” Sells said. “We’re going to hit Graceland, Sun Studios, visit some graveyards, record stores and Beale Street. When we get to West Virginia, Marco (Butcher) is a big Hasil Adkins fan, and we plan on going to go clean Hasil’s grave and maybe lay some hot dogs down in his honor. We’ll maybe see if my buddy Jesco’s home, see if he wants to tag along.”

While Jesco White’s family calls Sells “nephew,” they’re not really related, just good friends.

“People ask me if I’m his nephew, but I’m not, in actuality. He’s been a close friend for over 10 years; I’ve taken him to the store, the post office, I took him to get his I.D. made at the Kanawha Mall,” Sells said laughing.

Sells, playing out as the minimalist, bluesy, roots-based Slate Dump for about five years, described how he got introduced to these Brazilian acts.

“About four or five years ago, a good friend of mine and another one-man band, J Marinelli, gave me the ‘Attack of the One Man Bands’ compilation CD,” he said. “He told me about guys like Chuck Violence, Chucrobillyman, Fabulous GoGo Boy from Alabama, and Uncle Butcher, of course. And I just fell in love. They’re doing cooler things than a lot of Americans right now. I kept in touch and told them if they were ever in America I’d be glad to try to set them up some shows.”

For Sells, even though he's in Memphis, after calling Morgantown home for a few years, his musical roots lie in Raleigh County.

“Raleigh Hollow, growing up on McQuillen hill,” Sells said. “My great-grandfather, Hughie McQuillen, had eleven kids, and during the depression he worked in the mines and played stringed instruments in bars at night, and was able to support all of his kids. I learned all my rudimentary chords from him and my grandmother, Doris McQuillen-Bennett. She’s 73-years old and still plays guitar. She loves Chuck Berry, Bill Withers; my grandmother is rockin’. Yeah, I learned the only four chords I know from them,” Sells said laughing.

There was also inspiration from other sources.

“My mom and my biological father used to take me to blues and folk festivals and let me run around naked, that had something to do with it,” Sells said. “Her record collection had a big influence on me, too. My stepfather introduced me to the Ramones, the Kinks and Butthole Surfers, which really warped my brain.”

After playing in a few bands as a teenager in and around Raleigh and Fayette counties, Sells kicked off his career as Slate Dump with more help from his grandmother.

“It wasn’t until 2005, I picked up my grandmother’s 1960 model Gibson, and the songs started comin’. In about a 48-hour period I wrote five or six good songs and I didn’t even know what to do with them.”

After a tough period “couch surfing” in Morgantown “living on Ramen,” Sells has found happiness in Memphis with his fiancé, Marly Hazen, who he met while she was studying at WVU. Hazen penned the lyrics for one of Sells’ songs on his most recent release, 2010’s ‘Electric Punching Machine.’”

“Yeah, she wrote the lyrics for ‘Collarbone,’ which has been requested pretty much everywhere I play. It's one of my favorite songs to play.”



Sells said he can’t wait to bring The Jam Messengers through Huntington and Morgantown.

“The college towns should love these guys,” he said. "They’re everything; glam, trash, punk and blues, and raw. They’re the kick in the (butt) that America has been needing for a while. I hope to continue bringing in this Brazilian influx, because we need the rhythms. We need to get back to the roots. I flip on the radio here in Memphis and there’s no blues or roots stations. One station will play blues from 9:30 to midnight. There’s rap, pop crap and top 20 country. But the Jam Messengers are going to kick all that in the (butt), I can promise you that.”

Jason Sells on his "Reclamation Tour"

Jason Sells (aka Slate Dump) speaks about his Reclamation Tour and greatest hits CD Fables of the Reclamation.

From birth until age 12 I grew up spending a great majority of my time with my super-extended Scots-Irish family “The McQuillens” in Raleigh Holler (outside of Beckley) in Raleigh County, West Virginia.

My cousins and I loved to play on the “slate dumps” -- whether sleigh riding in winter, riding bicycles up over the large humps, playing king of the hill (which was a childhood game long before the cartoon), or just rolling around on them getting dirty, so as to get your ass busted later by the folks for fucking up your good Sunday clothes.

After moving to California at age 12, getting threatened by local gangs, spit on for wearing WVU clothing, and learning that I was an outsider to a faster, uglier culture, I knew I truly missed Southern West Virginia, and when I moved back to East Beckley ‘the poor side of town’ at age 16, most all of the slate dumps had been “reclamated” or “reclaimed by the department of mine lands.”

I was disillusioned.

Then the “preppie kids” in Beckley would spit on me and call me a “grit,” rednecks would call me a “N___ lover” (fill in the blanks). I felt more out of place than when I lived in California with a Southern West Virginia accent among gang territory.

I dabbled in drugs and alcohol to ease the pain of not ever fitting in. I watched a lot of friends die, went through self-defacing phases. Music was my only saving grace.

I have to thank my great-grandfather Hughie McQuillen (who played every stringed instrument known to man), who worked in the mines during the day, and played dives at night to support his eleven children through the depression, for being one of my greatest influences.

Also my grandmother Doris McQuillen-Bennett for playing guitar to me throughout my childhood; I owe my basic chords to her. She also had one hell of a great record collection: Marty Robbins, Bobby Bare, Chuck Berry, and Bill Withers to name a few, and my mom and step-dad introduced me to AC/DC, The Kinks, The Ramones, the Butthole Surfers; everything from John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters, to what you hear on classic rock radio today.

Since 1989 I’ve collected blues, jazz, and classic country albums. By the time I graduated college I had two rooms full of vinyl, but with no place to spin them, nowhere that anyone would appreciate them, I had to sell them to make ends meet.

Now I’m homeless, can’t afford treatments from my physicians (aka NO insurance) so I’m forced to pull myself up from my bootstraps and RECLAIM MYSELF, hence the tour name.

As for the album title, “Fables of the Reclamation,” my personal belief from my childhood memories is that the ‘un-reclamated slate dumps’ had much more beauty and character than the ‘reclamated slate dumps.’ Nothing grows on the reclamated slate dumps, just unnatural grass that looks like astro-turf.

I miss the slate dumps of Raleigh holler; the slate dumps are gone, but the WWI German tank part factory still stands, oddly enough.

Thanks for letting me share,
~ Jason “the Nephew” Sells

P.S. -- this tour would NOT have happened without the care and kindness of one James Marinelli.