After watching the second episode of Treme, we sat down with musical mainstay, John Hermann, to discuss the show from his insider's view.

NoDef: Hi. thanks for helping us out with some feedback. Why don't we begin by having you introduce yourself.

JH: Sure. Hi. I'm John Hermann. I do sounds for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. I've been playing with them since I was fourteen. And, I grew up in NJ... Met them on my fourteenth birthday.

NoDef: You've been playing with them since you were fourteen. Wow!

JH: Well, I wasn't on the road with them until I was 20.

NoDef: 20? You were geriatric! However, we'll save that for next week. So, what did you think of the second episode?

JH: I thought it was good; they made even more local references that noone else would get, which actually worries me about the national audience because they made allusions and jokes that you wouldn't get without knowing the city. For example, that running joke, "There's pride on Bourbon Street."

(Laughter)

NoDef: Favorite part, favorite scene?

JH: It's hard to choose one particular scene that I love the most. Hmmm... That scene with Wendell where he had his ex wife, his current girlfriend, and his daughter, and he had another daughter somewhere else.

That's a very common thing amongst musicians.

(Laugher)

NoDef: Do you have multiple daughters yourself?

JH: No.

(Laughter)

Thank god, no.

NoDef: Just checking.

JH: Ask James Brown about that!

(More Laughter)

NoDef: So, would you say that the television depiction is accurate, in line with your experiences as a musician after the storm?

JH: Yeah. After the storm, everyone was struggling to get whatever gig they could get. I mean I was lucky because immediately after the storm I was stranded on a tour bus, and what was supposed to be a six week tour became a five month tour. We wound up having to do 320 days that year after the storm. There was nowhere else to go and we had to make money.

NoDef: So, you avoided Bourbon Street?

JH: Yeah. Although, I did, I did play the Famous Door--

NoDef: Nothing wrong with that; there's pride on Bourbon Street!

JH: There is pride on Bourbon Street. You got to make the gig, you got to make the gig. That's how the saying goes! 

NoDef: Fair enough. Now, what about the guys you play with, have they been watching?

JH: Well actually last week, Roger Lewis, who is one of the founding members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, he was with the Treme Brass Band in the second line jazz funeral at the end of the last episode, Benny Jones also.

NoDef: Where do you think the show is going to go? Where would you like it to go?

JH: So far, it seems more character driven than plot driven, which is cool. For New Orleans this is the perfect thing. The city is more about people and their interactions! 

NoDef: Any other thoughts?

JH: I have to say I was impressed: Trombone Shorty is a real damn good actor.

NoDef: He's a real damn good horn player also!

JH: Ahh, he's alright.

(Laughter)

Sorry Troy.

NoDef: Thanks very much.

JH: Always a pleasure.