When it first began touring, Minnesota rock band Soul Asylum played at New Orleans music venue Tipitina’s in the mid 1980s. At the time, the now-famous club was only a neighborhood juke joint. Lead singer David Pirner said the band’s first performance at “Tippy’s” was a
“terrible trainwreck.”
Now, after 10 albums and an immeasurable amount of touring, Pirner said the band is much better and is honored by another chance to play at the iconic New Orleans venue. Soul Asylum, best known for its 1992 Grammy-nominated single “Runaway Train,” has been described as a mixture of Kiss and Hank Williams.
Its loud, hardcore rock sound earned the band the title of “grunge precursor.” Soul Asylum has attained international fame during its multi-decade career, but mainstream America still fails to recognize the band. The underground fans of pre-grunge music are a large majority of the band’s fans including a few in New Orleans. 
Despite being such a lively town for music, Pirner calls the Crescent City a strange town for the rock ‘n’ roll genre. Soul Asylum has performed at almost every available venue in the city that could suit a loud rock band, including various festivals and the House of Blues. Over time, the band realized there are few outlets for its high-volume, high-energy sound. Despite this, Soul Asylum continues to play in New Orleans because of the city’s musical culture.
“There’s a lot of focus on jazz music here, and I like it,” Pirner said. “We may not always have the desired set-up here, but the people get what music is supposed to sound and feel like.”
With more than 30 years of music to select from, Pirner said the band has a difficult time picking which songs to play and when to play them. Soul Asylum boasts accomplished drummer Michael Bland who has played with Prince and had a brief stint with Nick Jonas and the Administration. Most of the set list decisions are under Bland’s control. 
Since his time with the band began in 2001, Bland has taken consistent notes on how certain audiences react to certain songs. He also remembers to include songs Soul Asylum likes and considers performance aesthetics. Pirner calls Bland a scientist of sorts because he has developed a formula to set list construction.
Although the band has been around for so long, Pirner believes the art of expression that comes with a live show and the crowd reaction haven’t changed.
“The only thing different from our younger days are the faces at our shows now,” Pirner said. “There are some newer faces at our shows willing to check out what they missed.”
The band agrees that a few things have changed since it first started playing music. According to Pirner, something that was once the norm has become rare in music. For a Soul Asylum show, there is no prerecorded music or DJ like there are at many of
today’s popular concerts.
“There are real musicians on stage at our shows” Pirner said. “This newer music is different than what we do because we’re really playing our
instruments.”
Pirner further praised New Orleans for its energy to encourage expression but said it creates stiff competition. He said the multiple genres in the city can only be found in a few other places, and because of that, people are spoiled by such great music.
“I’m not sure what to expect from our show, but I know that it’s going to be fun and kooky because that’s always the case in this city,” Pirner said.
You can reach Joshua Jackson on Twitter @Joshua_Jackson_.