The Upful LIFE Podcast | 098: MIKE RIVARD [bass/sintir: Club d’Elf]
The Upful LIFE podcast
098: MIKE RIVARD [bass/sintir: Club d’Elf] + LONNIE MARSHALL [bass/vox: Weapon of Choice, daKAH, Joe Strummer]
Episode 098 brings a double dose of low end theory, welcoming a pioneering pair of underground bass legends percolating on opposite coasts, both cats deep in the streets and boasting decades in the game, with the catalogues and collaborators to prove it.
- 0:00 – ep.098 preview
- 6:30 – The Upful Update
- 12:00 – intro: Club d’Elf’s MIKE RIVARD [aka Micro]
- 15:00 – INTERVIEW w/ MICRO [83m]
- 1:38:00 – introducing LONNIE MARSHALL
- 1:42:00 – INTERVIEW w/ LONNIE [43m]
- 2:24:30 – afterglow x ViBE Junkie Jamz
First up Mike Rivard [aka Micro] – bass/sintir/founder/visionary of Boston’s jazz-trance-dub-hop institution known as Club d’Elf. Twas an honor and privilege to finally tap in with Micro after a quarter century of fandom and awe. We chop it up at length about his group’s unicorn career, magnificent co-conspirators like the late Mark Sandman, John Medeski, Brahim Fribgane (RIP), Joe (RIP) and Mat Maneri, Dave Tronzo, and (Friends Of The Pod) Mister Rourke, Adam Deitch, Ryan Zoidis, Jonny G, among several others. We learn about Moroccan sintir; the healing powers of Gnawa trance music; plant medicines and Terrence McKenna; Micro’s personal trials and tribulations along the way; perspective on the integral role of independent music venues; interpolating NOLA Second Line rhythms in tandem with Morrocan traditions; revisiting his embryonic journeys with the Grateful Dead as a wide-eared, curious youngster. In April 2026, Club d’Elf unveiled their latest full-length LP Loon & Thrush, an absolutely stunning affair in a deep, eclectic d’Elf canon brimming with brilliant configurations and bold adventuring.
We chase that inspired dialog with another crucial chat featuring electrifying LA-based bassist/badass Lonnie Marshall from pioneering underground funk/hip-hop squadron Weapon of Choice. Lonnie was kind enough to hop on to discuss his life of Nutmeg Music, his bombastic and eclectic history and eccentric persona, direct lineage from the P-Funk family tree and his teenage era rollin’ with Bootsy Collins’ Boot Camp, colorful storytelling and dope collabs, remembering the ambitious daKAH hip-hop orchestra, recording/gigging Joe Strummer’s debut solo LP/group, reflections on his brother Arik Marshall’s brief, chaotic moment with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and long-term run backing Macy Gray. Plus a whole lot more in this educational inspirational get down with the most mega-nutt mug to ever bless these podwaves!
Bassist/sintir sorcerer Mike Rivard [aka MicroVard] defies any sort of rigid genre-specifics or generic categorization. The cat finds himself at home in a bewildering array of musical/cultural settings: from the good ol’ Grateful Dead to the melancholic-rock of his late friend Mark Sandman and Morphine, to the mountains of Morocco with local Berber musicians, plus side trips into the Broadway pits, and tantric trance sessions with John Medeski and Joe Maneri. A “military brat” coming of adolescence in the wide expanses of Minnesota, he took in the local sounds of Prince, Husker Du, and the free-jazz coming out of the University of Minnesota milieu. Eventually a young Rivard would find himself while hitchiking on Dead tour, further opening up nascent doors of perception. Later, Micro set about embarking on Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music in 1981. After graduating, he studied with jazz legend Dave Holland. Inspired by North African gnawa music, he picked up a Moroccan sintir (three-stringed bass lute) and with guidance from Hassan Hakmoun and Maalem Mahmoud Gania, he has become one of a handful of Western musicians proficient on the instrument. He puts all of the shared sacred teachings and wisdom to good use in Club d’Elf, the jazz-world-dub-electronica squad he formed in 1998. Club d’Elf can be heard across more than 15 albums over the past 25 years; an eclectic, pioneering collective with a vast array of co-conspirators from around the world.
- new album Loon & Thrush
“Big Light In Sky” – Club d’Elf w/ Adam Deitch
