Live – Interview [2000]

Live

Hey Patrick, what’s up?

Not much.

So, are you on the road today?

Actually I’m sitting at home. Technically I’m on the road, but I got to swing home for a little bit.

That’s cool.

Yeah, it’s a good thing. (laughs)

I heard you got married.

Yep, got married. It’s done.

We got a few emails from readers that told me to tell you congrats.

Cool. Well, thanks everybody. (laughs)

How does that effect you when you’re on the road?

It’s hard, obviously, especially as I’m sitting here with my daughter. I understand that I have to get out there to do what I do. I have to remind myself once I get out on the road that this is what I want to do. It’s the twenty-three hours when you’re not playing that you are wondering, ‘Hmm, I wonder what’s happening at home.’ So, big phone bills.

Is everyone in the band married?

I think we all are now.

So everyone can relate.

Yeah. It’s cool because the strength of our relationships are that we’ve always been at the same places in our lives, so we are all very supportive.

It’s a real change of pace, especially being in a band.

I guess rock ‘n’ roll and family is a bizarre concept.

I heard you guys on Howard Stern during his birthday show. Are you fans?

Yeah, we are. To me it’s more about what he’s about. It’s about freedom. Through his humor, and if you have an open mind you’ll see that he takes the piss out of everyone, including himself, generally he’s not malicious. I think for me it’s about freedom and having your say.

Was it tough playing so early in the morning?

We’ve actually played there once before, so we were prepared, but this time it was a little later. I had a lot of coffee.

Did you hang with any of the shows crazies, like Hank the Dwarf or Beetlejuice?

No, actually towards the end all the freaks came up and danced with us, so that was pretty interesting. (laughs)

The one thing that is odd, even though it may not seem to be, is that you guys have stuck around for a long time. In music today, that isn’t the norm. To what do you attribute your ability to stay consistently good?

There is one element that I have no clue where it comes from, and the rest is the chemistry between the four of us. It’s funny, it’s hard to get four schedules together because they conflict, but sometimes I’m like, ‘Man, I’d rather sit home and do the nine to five.’ But ultimately I think we’ve realized, through people like Jerry Harrison and Joe Strummer of the Clash, that it was their chemistry and the power of being one unit. We’ve come to realization. I think Ed (Kowalczyk, lead singer) could have a great solo career and Chad or I could start a band, but there is that chemistry and undeniable something between us that we aren’t willing to walk away from yet.

It’s like the Beatles. They just never had it as well individually as they did as a whole.

Right. I’ve hated for at least two minutes everybody in the band. It’s like being married to three people. You just have to respect and care for each other.

It’s weird to talk with someone that’s actually got history. Most bands I talk with are on their first album, you know?

Yeah. I’ve noticed with each record cycle, even since the summer, there were bands that were blowing up at the time and they can’t get arrested now. I’ve seen it come and go. It’s throughout history for bands to have that one hit and then they are gone.

Do you have any idea why some bands don’t get past the first album?

Honestly, no. I can’t really tell you why. (laughs) I think we are always honest to ourselves and true to ourselves within the music process and the business side of it. We’ve realized that we’ve played huge and small places, and sometimes you can play huge places and sometimes you can’t and so on. There are ups and downs and you take them and deal with them and work them out. As long as you are doing what’s right for the band, then I think there will be longevity either on a grand scale or smaller scale.

How do you feel the band’s approach to making music has changed over the years?

Wow. Well, I’ve noticed that, especially from the first record, that it was like this big sign saying, ‘Hey, look at me.’ It was definitely written to be in your face. I think over time we’ve realized that now when we write a song it isn’t premeditated. If something moves me, I play from feeling.

Then the whole maturity thing.

Yeah, the four of us have grown as people. Obviously, we have more responsibilities now. It’s just a bigger effort for the four of us to get together. We don’t live a mile apart from each other and can’t just call and say, ‘Hey, let’s get together in an hour.’ It’s more like, ‘I’m looking at next month’ and ‘Let’s meet here.’ Then someone has to book a hotel, set up the travel, get a rehearsal room. Things like that have changed, you know the logistics. I think we’ve grown up rather normal. To start selling records when you are eighteen to twenty years old, it’s not normal to be on the road at that age and go on for ten years. Then lead a normal life. I guess it’s hard to understand from the outside looking in.

I don’t want to compare music, but you guys to me seem to have gone the same route as R.E.M. From in your face to very mature music, it just seems like the natural progression of things when you are a good band.

No doubt. That is a band that we to this day gauge ourselves on. That is a band we now know and respect as people. We’ve seen the decisions they’ve made in their career and find it liberating to see R.E.M. doing what they want to do, even to this day. They’re not so worried about radio and critical review. They just make records that they are into. Ultimately that is what you have to do, and if it comes out a great record then the public will recognize it.

I think it’s that progression that keeps you interested and fans. I feel like these sorts of bands are always the ones that go down in history.

Exactly. I think if you keep turning out the same records, then people are going to stop buying them. It’s like, ‘Well, I bought the last one and it sounds just like the last one,’ and then the third one comes out.

Yeah, and they are like, ‘Isn’t that the same song?’

Yeah. And with R.E.M. their original fan base has aged and are probably in different places with families and businesses, and when you look at their sales numbers they are barely pushing a million records, but again they’re not hip enough to be on the radio or whatever. Then their older fans are like, ‘Here’s twenty bucks. Do I want to buy gas, put food on the table, or buy an R.E.M. album? Because I already have seven R.E.M. albums.’ You know?

Yeah. I just can’t believe they’ve been around for so long. I’m curious about your opinion on the whole MP3 thing and bootlegs of live show tapes and all that?

It’s a compliment if someone is going to go through the trouble to do that. That is, if it’s not done in order to just make money off of it. At the end of the day, I think the true honest fan is still going to want the original album when it comes out. I think it’s just fans craving more and the desire of hearing more.

So are there any thoughts of releasing a Live live album?

We’ve been kicking it around. We want to get something out, just because we had a lot of tracks remaining from this album, on the heels of the end of our tour.

Does it get boring playing the same songs over and over every night?

You know what is actually refreshing? The addition of Adam (Kowalczyk), who is Ed’s younger brother who is now playing guitar on our tour, who replaces the guitar parts that Ed would usually play. And also the addition of Michael Railton on keyboards on tracks like “Operation Spirit”, which is off the first record. They add an extra spark. “Operation Spirit” can just go on for hours doing improv. The addition of those two guys brings a little more life to it.

And for tracks like “The Distance” you are adding to the end, right?

Yeah. I dared Ed. ‘I will pay you a hundred dollars if we can stretch this out to ten minutes.’ And we only made it to like seven minutes. (laughs) You see jam bands like the Dead, Phish, and they have that element that we are capable of doing, but have never really tried. Now we allow ourselves to improv and see where we can go. I think that is for our own sanity.

Because you go out there on stage and don’t really know what is going to happen. That has to really add some excitement.

Yeah, because it’s not like, boom, boom, boom through the songs.

How has your writing process changed?

On the last album it was certainly different. Chad, Ed, and I decided more or less that we would sit home and demo our songs, burn a cd, and then send them to each other and then add our parts or reviews. So when we finally got together as a band, we already knew a little more of where we were. It wasn’t like walking in and saying, ‘Listen to these three chords. Let’s make a song.’ So it was a little more independent this time.

what are there plans for the summer?

So far we are set to go out with Stereophonics and the Counting Crows.

I dig Stereophonics.

That is a great album.

I don’t understand why they haven’t got any notice over here. Britain has really been putting out some of the best bands lately.

I agree.

That will be a great show.

It should be a lot of fun.

A lot of people will love that lineup.

Yeah, I know. Originally we had the idea of this tour, we had our agent go to different promoters and tell them what our idea was and the response was really positive.

The Counting Crows are another one of those bands that quietly put out a great album.

Exactly. I think that there are still people out there, and I don’t mean to disrespect radio, but I think there are a lot of people that crave good songs with some depth.

It’s weird. There are a lot of great albums out that are going undiscovered. Usually good albums will at least get a shot with a single, but that doesn’t seem to be the case as of late.

Exactly. This is the most bizarre radio climate I’ve ever encountered. It’s almost like the alternative stations are ready to switch over to Top 40. But I agree about the Counting Crows record. It’s out and it’s doing well, but it’s just not in people’s faces. The same as our record. I think both those records will have legs on them. I’m just waiting for radio to play real songs again. I mean AAA radio. Adult oriented radio is playing stuff I’d rather listen to right now.

Does it feel like you are back to the basics again with college radio?

More or less. To me, that is what we are about right now. We are playing the smaller places and we aren’t trying to whore ourselves out. This is where we came from.

+ charlie craine


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