Chattanooga Times Free Press entertainment reporter talked to Brian Venable, guitarist for the Memphis-based country/rock band Lucero, about having a prehistoric bird named after the band, why Lucero’s lead singer may or may not really be a muppet and life with a major label.
CP: In January, you guys were informed that Hollanda luceria, a recently discovered, 70 million-year-old, prehistoric bird species, had been named after you. Just … wow.
BV: We have a couple of fans who are paleontologists. She came up to us about a year ago and was telling us about it. All the sudden, it was on the news. It’s supposed to be a cross between a Southern Screamer and something else. It’s the missing link between dinosaurs and birds. It looks like a pigeon-chicken to me.
CP: That’s an interesting honor for a band to hold.
BV: Yeah, it’s pretty cool. It’s one of those things you don’t quite realize. You might win awards and make a bunch of records, but 200 years from now, some school kid is going to be studying dinosaur stuff and a dinosaur is going to come up that’s named after a 20th/21st century band. That’s pretty amazing.