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I caught up with Kevin Griffin, lead singer for Better than Ezra in San Diego, as he was starting the West Coast portion of the band’s current tour with Cowboy Mouth.
Q. How is fan reception on the West Coast?A. The reception is great. We haven’t played out here in over a year, and I don’t know if it’s because we haven’t been here in a while but we have had sold out shows here in San Diego and LA. Cowboy Mouth is a great opening band, they are real entertainers.
Q. Tell me what it is like for the band to go from a larger record label, Elektra, to one that is smaller like Beyond. A. Pros, no replacing that money from Elektra, getting the band noticed and promoted. After Elekra we went to Beyond because they were so enthusiastic about us and were big fans.
Q. How do you feel about larger radio corporations like Clear Channel? A. It helps if the program director who does 30 stations is a fan, then you are all over the place, if he doesn’t like you, it doesn’t matter what surveys say, you will in effect get blacklisted. Radio needs more personality, it has lost all regional flavor.
Q. On your last album, Closer, the hit song “Extra-Ordinary” has an AC/DC quote along with a Barenaked Ladies quote. Do you consider either of these bands an influence on your music? A. The song takes in some of my influences, and puts it into a coherent message. I’m a huge AC/DC fan. As a teen, Highway to Hell was always on.
Q. McDonald’s used your song in one of its commercials, how did that come about?A.Five years ago, we would have told McDonald’s to go away, but now it’s the norm, when you have bands like Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin [and] Moby in commercials, it’s become more accepted.
Q. So can we expect to see any AC/DC covers in your live set?A. Only if I’m in the mood to blow out my voice.
Q. If you could collaborate with any artist in music today, who would you choose and why?A. Neil Diamond. The more we play music, the more we realize what it takes to survive and to make a career out of it. Looking at Neil Diamond, I know it’s funny to say him, (my parents would listen to him) but he keeps selling out shows and people keep coming back. Same with guys like Tom Petty, they just keep selling and know how to succeed.
Q. What can fans expect from your live show?A. A broad sampling from all our albums, it’s more of a show than three guys standing and playing music. We try to something different every night, maybe a b-side from an older album, or bad running commentary on what’s going on in the world.
Q. What is the New Orleans scene like?A. Always the same, a bubbling mass not enough money from the industries, but there is so much talent. Such a vibrant, wide range of talents. It never fades, but it never peaks either, like Seattle.
Q. How does the band feel about your fans recording the live shows, a la Dave Matthews, Phish, and Greatful Dead and then trading them to other fans?A. We are all fine with it, at first we didn’t like it, but then we realized it’s our fans who trade it with other fans, and that’s cool. It’s when the one guy records a show and tries to sell a show online that we obviously have a problem with.
Q. Do you have any advice for college students starting their own band?A. Number one, especially if you aren’t in it to make it big, just have fun and enjoy it. If you are really trying to make it big, I know it’s clichCB), but you just can’t quit. Perseverance is the key. You need talent as well. If you have people that keep coming back, you just need to continue playing, drawing them in. We played for seven years before our doors opened up.
Q. Has there been material written for the next album? A. Yes. So far we have eight songs written. You can expect to hear one or two of them in Denver.
Q. When can we expect the next album? A. We hope to go into the studio in November and have a tentative goal to get a new album out in March.
Q. How do you go about your songwriting process?A. Various ways, sometimes I’ll hear a word that triggers an idea for a mood, or a guitar riff, and I’ll write it in a journal, or voice mail, or email it to myself. I’ll wake up the next morning and read something I wrote in a 3 a.m. drunken stupor, and go: “What was I thinking?” But then I’ll discover a gem in all those ideas and that might make it into a song.
Q. What is life on the road like for the band?A. We all hang out and get along well, you almost have to, to make it as long as we have. We know when to give each other space.
Q. Do you have an embarrassing road moment?A. Yeah. We walked out on stage, and there was this girl looking at me, smiling, and pointing. I’m like alright, she’s checking me out. She kept saying something to me, but I couldn’t understand it, and finally between songs, I leaned over and asked her what is she saying, and she tells me that my fly is open.Better than Ezra will perform with Cowboy Mouth at the Ogden Theater in Denver today.
