Meet Clark Lee | Pharmacist / Bassist / Drummer
We had the good fortune of connecting with Clark Lee and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Clark, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
I’m finally finding that balance. Well, almost. In your 20’s you’re just trying to figure everything out. And you’ve got all that energy, so you just throw yourself into everything. In you’re 30’s you’ve become capable, so everybody stacks work on top of you and you don’t really have the clout, or money, to say no to anything. Now that I’m in my 40’s I’ve kind of got things where I want them and I know what I want to do. Things are paid off. I’m not under anybody’s thumb so I can be a little pickier and put my efforts when and where I want to. With this band, Jerb, two of us are a little older and have gotten to that point in life. The other two guys are just hitting their 30’s and are in crunch time. That’s where it gets challenging. When we started in 2016, it was a 20’s, 30’s thing. They had all the time in the world, ready to hit the road. And I was the one struggling to carve time out of work to contribute to the band. Now those roles have kind of reversed. I’m ready to hit the road and the other guys are over obligated. But that’s life. You adjust.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Man, it has been a long winding road full of bumps, detours, and everything else. I had a little success with a band I joined in 2000 right when I moved to Atlanta. That’s how I met Brian Weinberg (drummer). We were DIY touring around the southeast, played Music Midtown in 2001, and had headlining shows at the Variety Playhouse when it all fell apart. It was a jam band, and I just really wasn’t into it. I was 20 years old from nowhere south Georgia and looking to be the next Pantera when I moved to Atlanta. I never could pull off getting something heavy together. Somehow, I keep ending up in bands with a bunch of Dead heads. But my musical tastes are all over the place. I mean, I’m into everything from Ella Fitzgerald to Slayer so, there you go. Brian is also a multi-instrumentalist so he started playing bass in a punk band, PPR and drums for anything else he could get into. I kept trying to put together a metal band for a couple of years and just kept hitting my head against a wall. Eventually, all musical inspiration kinda dried up in me. I was in a bad place, uninspired, working in 2 Atlanta dive bars and on the road to drinking myself to death. I knew I needed to change. So I decided to go into healthcare and place my focus on helping others instead of on me.
It was a tough transition but eventually I became your trusted, dependable neighborhood pharmacist with no intention of playing music again. Then Brian calls me up 7 years later cause he wrote a bunch of power trio guitar rock songs, and he needed a bassist. Out of friendship I agreed to help out “until he found another bassist”. So we started a short-lived hard rock band called Fist Missile. It was straight up weird playing bass in a band for the first 6 months or so and then it just snowballed into my life’s passion again.
That band fell apart. The hardest part about a band is getting personnel together. We knew we could count on the two of us, so we started Kilberth. Kilberth is a two-piece experimental, psychedelic, circus metal, whatever-you-wanna-call it band with me on drums and Brian playing all bass, rhythm, and solo parts on 4 different keyboards. It’s hella fun and maybe our favorite thing to do. Check us out!
But somewhere in all that he started playing drums with James Deveau (keyboards/vocals) and Bryan Haines (guitar) in Jacks River Band. They were changing out their rhythm section and Brian convinced me to get on board. These guys were in their mid to early 20s at the time and showed a lot of skill and musical intuition for their age. We were used to jam band kids who just play all over each other and these guys clearly listened. So we joined up, recorded an album and started doing shows around the southeast.
It started out as a pretty standard southern blues rock inspired kinda band. We did (and still do) a lot of Allman Bros, Zeppelin, Creedence type stuff. But at this point, Brian and I have been involved in so many different outfits and our musical tastes are all over the place, so we started introducing a lot more out of the box material. We got real deep into funk for a couple years and then we just started getting weird with it. We’ve definitely broken out of the southern blues thing. As we changed musically, we thought we deserved a different name, so we re-branded as Jerb.
I think what makes Jerb so fun as a band is there really are no rules. We will go in any direction at any point. I mean, we’re a rock band, no doubt. But we’ll go from blues, to punk, bluegrass, prog rock, country, psychedelic, and drown your ass in funk all in one set. Sometimes within a song even. And all four of us are on point. I’ve never had a band experience that worked so well together. We’ve been doing this for 8 years now and I don’t think we’ve ever had an argument. We’re just there to kick out the jams and have fun and I think that joy and energy comes across on stage.
We were really picking up steam and developing a fan base here in Atlanta up until 2020. Covid really knocked the wind out of our sails. Not only did shows stop happening but we were in the middle of recording our 2nd album (1st under the name, Jerb) and there definitely weren’t any studios that wanted us showing up at the time. I was working in healthcare, so I was swamped with work for 2 years straight handling all that and had no time to contribute. But hey, if there’s a lesson in all this, I’d say it’s how you define success. If it’s playing sold out shows in arenas every night, that’s a tall order and likely to leave you unsatisfied. Would I like that? Oh hell yeah, of course! But I’m in a band with 3 other fantastic musicians. We all have a level of professional success that affords us the comfort of writing, recording, and performing music that we love without sacrificing our art for anybody else’s interests. We finally finished our next album, “All Hot and Bothered” which we are all very proud of and will be released to streaming services by the end of August 2023. It’s an absolute banger of funk tunes from start to finish! And we’ve got 2 more albums worth of material ready to go.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The things that make me happy are art, nature, and food. And Atlanta has no shortcomings here. As far as food goes, I mean, you can go anywhere. But a trip to Atlanta isn’t complete without hitting up Buford Highway. So much excellent cuisine there it’s insane. My current favorite is Northern China Eatery. They really knock it out of the park, but there’s really no shortage of mind-blowing restaurants in Atlanta. And then of course you’ve got to walk off all that food. And again, you’ve got your pick of where to go. You want nature? Trot just outside of the city to Stone Mountain, Decatur, Tucker, Sweetwater Park, Kennesaw Mountain. Or go into the city and hit the trails over by Emory, the Beltline, Piedmont Park. I always enjoy a visit to the Botanical Gardens.
While you’re at it, The High Museum is just a skip over from the Botanical Gardens. Always a favorite but again, there are a plethora of art exhibits around town.
Music? Nightlife? What isn’t going on? Beyonce is doing her 3rd night here tonight. Run the Jewels is doing 4 soon. Phish just did 2 or 3 nights. Pantera is coming. You want local bands? Go bar hop in East Atlanta Village and see all the indie, punk, metal you could want. Depending on who is visiting me, a trip to The Clermont is probably in order. Classic ATL right there, baby.
Got time for more? Let’s see some standup. If it’s Monday night I’m heading to Star Bar for Rotknee’s open mic. Best night of standup in town. Any other night hit up the Laughing Skull, Relapse theater, or anywhere else that’s having a good show.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Man, this might be a little boilerplate, but I’d really have to give credit to my family and specifically my parents. They’ve been an incredible source of love and support my whole life. When I dropped out of school (for the second time) to pursue music they were supportive. Of course, when I hit a roadblock there and went back to school to get my PharmD degree they were super happy. But now that I’ve circled back to writing, recording, and performing again, they couldn’t be happier. And they make it to any shows they can. As far as inspiration in music I’d have to give a shoutout to Scott Devine and the entire SBL team. When I wanted to dive back in to learning and improving on the bass, I came across Scotts Bass Lessons online and it is an incredible and inspiring resource. The work they do there is amazing. I don’t know if there’s an online instruction program in any field that compares.
And I’ve also got to give credit to our drummer, Brian Weinberg. I probably wouldn’t even be playing music if it wasn’t for him, and that’s the truth. He kind of trick/forced me to pick up the bass again after 7 years of not playing music at all and now it’s like I’m 18 again and it’s all I want to do.
Instagram: jerbtheband
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jerbtheband
Other: Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/6xb8i3KPGyHv8z2Myc3o1r?si=B0sOy3gkRbC_SU9E-SWJeg
Image Credits
Rachael L Hall
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