This month we speak with Bay Area fan favorite Victor Skidanenko who is a performer and teacher of banjo, mandolin, and guitar. He currently plays banjo in the Central Valley Boys and the Thundering Heard, and guitar and mandolin in the True Life Troubadours.
Dave: Tell us about your first bluegrass influences.
Victor: My father always listened to classic country music when I was a kid. He would play Merle Haggard, Kitty Wells, Ray Price, and artists like that. He had a tape of the Osborne Brothers that I really enjoyed listening to.
Dave: Tell us about your first instrument.
Victor: The first instrument I played was piano. My sister was taking lessons on piano and I eventually had a few lessons on it as well. That didn’t last long for me unfortunately.
Dave: So your family was musical?
Victor: Yes, music has always been present in my family. My father would play music in the car or at home all the time. He played some trumpet as well. My sister took piano and later fiddle lessons. She’s quite good at playing Celtic music on the fiddle.
Dave: Who’s your biggest musical influence?
Victor: There are too many to count, but it would be a toss-up between Earl Scruggs, Don Reno, and the Stanley Brothers. I would also have to throw in Brian Setzer and Scotty Moore as well for non-bluegrass.
Dave: Tell us about the bands you play in.
Victor: Currently I play in the Central Valley Boys, the True Life Troubadours, and my new band the Thundering Heard. I just recorded a new demo with the Thundering Heard. It’s posted at
http://thunderingheard.wixsite.com/bluegrass
Dave: Do you play non-bluegrass music?
Victor: Yes. I play rockabilly, country, and swing.
Dave: What interests you when you are not playing music?
Victor: Hiking, camping, woodwork, vegetable gardening, and Star Wars.
Dave: Which Star Wars characters do you think might play bluegrass?
Victor: I think that replacing Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes with Buzz Busby would change the atmosphere in the cantina a bit.
Dave: Do you have a lot of students?
Victor: Yes, teaching music is my main profession. I usually have between twenty-five and thirty students a week.
Dave: What do you consider the best quality of a teacher?
Victor: The most important parts of teaching are having patience and finding out what motivates your students to learn to play.
Dave: What shows, events, or venues are most memorable for you?
Victor: I enjoyed playing the Grass Valley main stage with the Central Valley Boys and Rock Ridge, and when my rockabilly band played Viva Las Vegas. It was a lot of fun to perform at these events that I enjoy attending so much.
Dave: What CBA events have you played?
Victor: I’ve played quite a few over the years. Most recently it was on Vern’s Stage with a couple of different groups.
Dave: Tell us what inspires you.
Victor: I really enjoy teaching. When it comes to banjo, I’m a big fan of Earl Scruggs, Don Reno, Allen Shelton, and Sonny Osborne. They’ve all influenced my playing in some way – Earl and Allen with the straight-ahead element and Don and Sonny with the fun slightly wacky stuff.
Dave: Are there any particular eras of music that are your favorites?
Victor: I listen to all sorts of music and there’s a lot of great stuff from every era. Most of my favorite recordings are from the early 1950s into the early 1960s. That pretty much covers most of the bluegrass, country, rockabilly, and R&B that I listen to.
Dave: Can you share some tips and tricks for players to continue to improve?
Victor: There’s no substitute for time spent practicing. Other than that, it’s important to immerse yourself in the music genre you’re learning. Get a feel for the way everything is supposed to sound.
Dave: Describe some musical challenges you’ve had and how you overcame them.
Victor: There are too many challenges to count. I’m still always fighting the eternal battle of timing. The metronome is very important to me! I also think running bands and organizing schedules and shows is harder than anything more directly musical, like playing or performing.
Dave: Is your approach to singing different than playing an instrument?
Victor: I approach singing similar to playing instruments in that I like to study recordings of artists I like.
Dave: Who are your favorite singers?
Victor: Carter Stanley because he’s bad-ass. Also Keith Whitley and Sam Cooke. My favorite trio is the Osborne Brothers with Dale Sledd.
Dave: What’s your personal singing style?
Victor: I try to steal a lot of things from a lot of different singers. I like to sing tunes in a simple way. I try not to do too many ornaments or use vibrato. Some singers I’ve studied are Carter Stanley, Red Allen, Buck Owens, Ray Price, and Paul Williams.
Dave: How do you go about arranging the vocal harmony stack?
Victor: It all depends on who’s singing lead and who you have at your disposal to sing the harmony vocals. If you have a lead singer with a low voice and two harmony vocalists with higher voices, chances are it’s going to be a high stack in the harmonies. In all of the bands I’ve been in, there were always a lot of different ways we stacked the vocals.
Dave: Who are your favorite mandolin players?
Victor: Definitely Bill Monroe. You can really hear how his playing style changed over the course of his career. He started out playing really clean, and in the 1960s he went to a more sparse and aggressive approach. Later he came back to playing more straight and clean. I’ve always been a fan of David McLaughlin. He always had a very straightforward approach, and no matter how fast the Johnson Mountain Boys went it seemed as though he never missed a note.
Dave: What fiddle tunes do you love?
Victor: Bonaparte Crossing the Rocky Mountains, the Old Mountaineer, and Cherokee Shuffle.
Dave: What other artists excite you?
Victor: Jimi Hendrix because he’s awesome.
Dave: Who would you consider the Jimi Hendrix of bluegrass?
Victor: Maybe Raymond Fairchild. His studio recording of Kicking Mule is incredibly impressive by any standard.
Dave: What instruments do you have?
Victor: A 1929 TB-3 Gibson conversion banjo, a Kentucky F mandolin, and a Blueridge acoustic guitar. I also have a Telecaster, a Stratocaster, a Guild hollow body electric, and a couple of ‘70s Fender silverface tube amps.
Dave: Any final thoughts that you want to share?
Victor: Play the melody.
Dave: Perfect, thanks so much, Victor,
Victor: Your welcome, Dave
Links
http://www.victorskidanenko.com/
http://www.thecentralvalleyboys.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thetruelifetroubadours/
http://thunderingheard.wixsite.com/bluegrass
