As promised yesterday, here is my phone interview with Jacob from Paper Rival. Listen to him talk about changing their band name, the new album and what inspired some of their songs. Enjoy! Be sure to check them out on MySpace and if you like what you hear, pick up their new album, Dialog, in stores June 3.
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Paper Rival
I chatted with frontman Jacob Rolleston the day after Paper Rival’s Bamboozle performance at Giant’s Stadium in New Jersey. He filled me in on how the band began, their debut full-length album due in stores June 3, and the stories behind some of his songs, one of which came from a box of old letters between his great grandparents when his great grandfather was stationed in Germany during WWII. Read on for more of the interview and check back in a few days for the audio format of the interview. Be sure to check out Paper Rival on MySpace and if you like what you hear, go pick up a copy of their album Tuesday!
Tell me a little bit about Paper Rival. I read that you guys started as two separate bands at first.
Yeah. The guitar players, Patrick and Brent were in a band together in
Yes we do. Dialog, June 3.
You know, there wasn’t really a concept, necessarily. It was actually everything but that. We learned that we had to change our band name as we went into the studio last year in March. We actually went into the studio in February and started recording and then we did South by Southwest in ’07 and we had to change our band name there. When we came back we got a lot more focused and were thinking that by changing our band name it would make it easier for us to change the style of music and our writing. It actually made us a lot happier, so recording was anything but a concept. We just we went in and luckily everything came to be how it is and we’re really excited about it.
Yeah, there was a Canadian band that had the name. They weren’t jerks to us really. We would get mixed up in press and they made it to iTunes first and that’s such a huge market that we couldn’t really afford to not be on iTunes. It was just kind of like, “Let’s just change our name now. We don’t have a full length out; we can afford to do it right now.” It was a decision on our part and to make it a little easier for everybody.
Yeah. They were letters from my great grandfather to my great grandmother from World War II when he was stationed in
Pretty much. There are a couple of songs where Patrick had guitar and lyrics to and there were some that just fit and I didn’t want to change. Sometimes you’ll get a singer that’s kind of selfish and wants to write all his own words and I tried to fight that because I think anyone is really partial to what they’re saying all the time. You kind of feel like you want to be the only lyric writer, so I just fight that because I know that a lot of times what somebody is saying is sometimes better than how I can say it. So I try to see it that way. So sometimes Patrick will write something and I may write a little bit or change it to make it sound like it’s from me and sometimes I’ll have words and Patrick will say, “That doesn’t sound like you” and change it.
My personal favorite is probably “Bluebird.” I like the arrangement and the old music in the song is really good. I like the way the song came about, how randomly the song came about. In my opinion it’s the most beautiful song on the record.
I know in my family, there’s a lot of self medicating on both sides. On my dad’s side there’s this whole thing about living forever and wanting to go into some type of heaven forever, an eternity. On my mom’s side, she just self medicates and doesn’t necessarily believe she’s going to live forever. Why do we as humans do tons of the bad things we do and think we deserve to live forever? There’s so many other species on the planet that deserve to live longer than we do and it’s basically saying that.
I heard Patrick say in another interview that it’s like 90’s alternative rock indie music with a folk twist. There’s definitely an organic element about it that isn’t just rock and isn’t just indie or isn’t just alternative music that keeps the music grounded.
Personally, I’d love to take small steps. I like that we’re on a label and we’re surrounded by people that believe in us and people that understand that it takes time if you really want to do what you’re doing and do what you love. Sometimes it just takes time to get there and that’s better. We want to really have a nice fan base and care about our fans and care about people who come to see us. We want to take small steps towards hopefully a big future and a long future and a long career. That’s my hope, just to continue doing what we’re doing.
It’s just like, what year is it? I think for all of us in the band, and tons of people in the city and surrounding areas, a lot of people felt the same way. Its 2007, you know? Now it’s 2008, but it happened in 2007. It’s totally people who are living based on what their grandparents and great grandparents thought and not living and creating their own opinions and how embarrassed I am of people like that, just on any subject. Be a progressive thinker, don’t just sit and muddle in your old grandparents opinions, just closed-minded opinions. That’s kind of where that song came from. The core of it was definitely was that, but it’s more universal, just about people in general, self-centered, and close-minded people.
Well, that’s what we are. We’re just people. We’re not doing anything, we’re playing the music that we want to play and that, I think, is different. There are bands that play the music they want to play and love what they do and there are bands that don’t play the music they want to play and love what they do. I think we’re different in the way that we’re the same person before we get on the stage as we are when we get on the stage and after we’re off the stage. We love being in the crowd and talking to people and really, all of us, love engaging the crowd and people that like our music.
For more on Paper Rival check them out on MySpace.
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Priscilla Ahn
A few posts ago I introduced you to singer-songwriter Priscilla Ahn. Just last week Grey’s Anatomy featured one of her songs from upcoming album, A Good Day, on it’s season finale. I’m hoping to post a clip of that segment soon. In an email interview with Priscilla, she filled me in on her transition into the music industry, her recent Hotel Café Tour and hopes for the future. Read on for more of the interview and be sure to check out Priscilla’s debut album, hitting stores June 10.
Did you grow up thinking you would be a singer? Do you remember the day you said to yourself, “This is what I’m going to do”?
I grew up thinking I’d be an English teacher. I guess, the day I decided I wasn’t gonna go to college is the day I knew for sure I wanted to really try making some sort of career out of singing and songwriting.
You moved from Pennsylvania to L.A. to pursue music. What prompted that decision and how did you adjust to everything?
I visited L.A. with some musician friends from Philadelphia. We were on a songwriting road trip. As soon as we drove into Los Angeles, I fell in love with the place. One month later, I was on the road solo, driving from PA to CA. Amazingly, at 19, I feel like I adjusted alright. I was never really homesick. I learned the streets pretty fast. I met people pretty fast. I guess I saw the whole thing as an adventure where I couldn’t lose, and totally dove in head first.
Do you feel the move paid off?
Definitely. If I’d have gone to college, or just stayed in Pennsylvania, my life and career would be nowhere near where it is now.
What has been the biggest struggle for you?
My biggest struggle I think has been finding myself musically. Being a young girl I had anybody and everybody telling me what songs should sound like. It took me about a year or two to figure out that I hated writing songs the way all the songwriting magazines and crap were saying you should. I knew I was different from that, and I didn’t like my creativity living in a box. So I tore the box down and wrote less-structured songs that were fun to sing.
I saw the NYC date of the Hotel Cafe Tour at Irving Plaza and really enjoyed your performance. Was this your first tour with all the performers? How did the tour go for you?
This was my first tour with all the other performers, except for Cary Brothers, who brought me on the road last summer, which was a lot of fun too. I had a lot of fun on this tour too, granted it was only five or six dates, but they were in fun cities. The crowds were so great at all the shows, I’d definitely do it again.
Do you have a favorite song to perform?
It depends. I enjoy playing pretty much all my songs, which is a good thing I guess. Sometimes my favorites to play are the ones I don’t get a chance to play that often, and for some reason, the day of the show I decide to play it because I really need to. Those become the most satisfying, because it served a purpose for me.
I really like your song, “Wallflower.” In one of your press kits you said it was about when you first moved to L.A. and were basically a wallflower at all the parties. Has L.A. gotten better since you wrote the song?
Yes. I’ve become a little more outgoing for one. Not so aloof. Also, the parties have gotten better. Those parties were filled with a bunch of people I didn’t know, or want to know. The parties these days are more of get-togethers and dinners with good friends where we play games and stuff.
How was the process making A Good Day? Is it everything you imagined recording your first album would be? Did you go into the studio having a certain concept for the album?
The process was extremely educating as far as creative group dynamic in confined spaces go. I learned to really work with people. I was never very big into working in groups growing up. I had no idea what recording my first album would be like. I’d hoped it would be as easy as making my EP was, but it was a little different, a little more involved, and the stakes were a little higher. I don’t believe we had a real concept for the album going into the studio. We were very much like, let’s play the songs and make them fun and beautiful.
How did you decide which songs to cover?
My friend Gus Seyffert, who was a big part of the whole recording process, suggested both songs to me. “Masters In China” is a song his friend Benji Hughes wrote. I fell madly in love with the lyrics and the body of the song. Gus found “Opportunity To Cry” on an old Willy Nelson demo. Again, the lyrics were heartbreaking and also sort of sassy and funny to me.
Do you write all the music and lyrics to each song? What is your typical writing process like?
I do. I’m starting to co-write with people too, which can be really fun and rewarding too. Typically, I’ll stumble on a chord progression that in turn will evoke the first line of lyrics. Usually whatever will float off the tip of my tongue, and then I trust that whatever that first line is about, is what the song is supposed to be about, and I just go with it from there.
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
I’m hoping a lot of touring, and at the same time, a lot of time for writing. If I can maintain the lifestyle of have doing what I’m doing right now, that’d be pretty awesome.
For more on Priscilla check out her MySpace.
Editing down these interviews has taken a lot longer than I had previously expected. I’m hoping to get more of my interviews up in audio format from the “Get A Life” tour soon . . . can’t make any immediate promises though. Here is my interview with Vince broken down into two segments, each about 10-minutes long for your listening pleasure. Let me know if this is a good length, I know everyone has busy lives and you don’t really have time to sit down and listen to a 40-minute interview, so I tried to cut it down to the most interesting parts. Enjoy!
Click here to listen to Vince talk about how Army of Me prepares for tour, what they do on their days off and how their new pre-show ritual came about.
Click here for more from Vince on how the audience’s vibe impacts his performance, getting dropped when jumping into the crowd to crowd-surf, the struggles of being in a band and more.
As promised, here’s the MP3 format of my interview with Tim Foreman a few weeks ago. Special thanks to my friend Tom for making this possible! I interviewed Tim after Switchfoot’s Rutgers show while the guys were hanging out and chatting with fans. There is a bit of background noise, but I think you should be able to hear him pretty well regardless. Listen to Tim talk about the upcoming album, their Music Builds Tour and the writing process behind latest song, “This Is Home” here.
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Q&A with Dennis Manuel of Army of Me
This is my third of four interviews featured from the guys of D.C. based band Army of Me. I’m hoping to post my last interview as well as get some audio formats of the interviews up soon. If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out Army of Me and catch a show! They’ll be playing Bowery Ballroom in NYC next Thursday, May 29! Below is my interview with drummer Dennis Manuel. One of the founding members of Army of Me, Dennis chatted with me during the “Get A Life” tour about the arduous task of naming a band, how he came to be a part of Army of Me and signing his first autograph.
Tell me a little bit about how Army of Me began.
We just kind of met through mutual friends, me and Vince. I wasn’t really playing any instruments yet. I was screwing around enough to keep a beat. We got together in a buddy of our’s basement. I think we jammed like once and then I moved to
I was 19 and I basically wanted to get out of my mom’s house. Instead of college, I went to
We started as a three-piece and we were trying to come up with a name and we had all these lists. It was such a painful process. I had this basement apartment where we rehearsed all the time and Vince’s girlfriend at the time came downstairs and we were throwing names at her. And she was like, “What about Lioness.” After everyone had said like a hundred no’s, we were like, “That sounds cool. Where did you come up with that?” And she said, “It’s on your wall.” I had this hook and knot that my first babysitter made for me. They look like rugs, but it’s a picture. And it was of Lioness from Charlie Brown. So that was our first name. I actually have a Yoda hook and knot in my kit drum. It’s for the force. So Lioness was our first name and then there was another Lioness and we had to change the name.
One of your names was Cactus Patch?
I think it was actually Catus Hatch, which I don’t know how we came up with. It was really an awful name. But, again, with the lists, the endless freakin’ lists. It’s impossible. On one of Vince’s lists, I saw catus, and I thought it had a ring to it. I was like, “What is it?” Vince is a fly fisherman and catus is a certain larvae from a fly and when they come out of the eggs and come to the surface, the larvae, all the bass come to the surface. So it’s a particular fly, and it was catus and I thought, “What about Catus Hatch?” It seemed brilliant at the time. And then everyone we told the name to were like, “What? Cactus Patch?” And it basically became Cactus Patch. It was so ridiculous at one point I wanted to make a T-shirt with Cractus Catch, Cactus Patch, Catus Hatch, Lemon Snatch. Basically, we’re called whatever you want us to be called. That happened and then we had a couple of EPs, actually we had a full-length under Cactus Patch, which I’m afraid to even think about listening to.
Well, by that time we became a three-piece for a while, but then we wanted to change it up and get a bigger sound, so we got another guitarist. We were coming out with a new EP and we had management at the time, and they were like, “Well, if you want to change the name.” I remember the end of Cactus Patch. We played this place called Palomas in
Do you have a favorite show from this tour, favorite venue or favorite crowd?
It’s kind of impossible to have a favorite crowd because they’re always different, you can’t keep track. I’d say favorite venue is
When you travel is there a certain crowd that’s more enthusiastic?
I think there was a weird thing that happened for at least a little bit, where it was freakin’ kind of weird. It was like that thing where you go to
How is it being away from your girlfriend on tour?
I think it’s different for everybody, obviously. As long as she has something to do and you’re both busy doing your own thing, it helps to where you’re not concentrating. She’s a stable manager so she’s responsible for a lot of stuff, a lot of horses. It definitely keeps your mind occupied. We’re both very independent people. I’d call her and we’ll basically say five words, we’re kind of used to it. When you get to the three week period, it sucks.
Oh, yeah. It’s just a certain kind of person.
Sings: “Well I’m a little bit country and he’s a little bit rock ‘n’ roll.” I think we just all come from . . . like, aside from Dave with us playing, because he hasn’t really written any songs with us. Brad’s definitely a country, folk queen. I’m probably the indie guy. I like weird stuff. I like Jon Spencer and stuff like that. Vince wants to take over the world. We’re very different people. It’s weird, I feel like a lot of people say we’re about the music and stuff like that. But, I feel like we’re just into writing really good songs and we could really do without jumping around and whatnot. It’s about how interesting a core progression is, whether or not one part’s stepping on another. We’re just trying to write smart, good songs and it’s weird because I feel like the world doesn’t want that right now. Vince was talking about last night, they’re [the crowd] like, “Am I aloud to like this? I don’t know what to do. No one else has told me this is cool, so I don’t know what to think.” It’s not like we’re going to quit. What else are we going to do? Become investment bankers? Become mortgage brokers?
Vince will do the lyrics, that mainly comes with the melody. Essentially, a song we’ll screw with the arrangement of it and the vibe of it and then we’ll start arguing about it and then we’ll finally settle on something.
It’s kind of hard. If I hear a live version of something, where it’s a song that we haven’t recorded, even some songs that we recorded I’m like, “Why did I do it that way?” Being in the studio is definitely different, it’s like part writing. The only way to really hear your parts is to not be playing it while you’re playing it. If you can step back, it’s a little easier to edit. Sometimes you don’t even realize how stupid something is until you hear it played back to you. Even a lot of stuff on the album I don’t play the same way. I was in there [the studio] for two days and I was done and then they went to war with guitars, so they were there for another two months. There are three songs on the album that are pre-production tracks which are just while we’re working on the song they decided to keep the drum parts. I didn’t really have a chance to think about it. But now that I have, the songs have evolved and I’ll go back and listen to the recording to get some of my original idea and then, kind of marry the two. I’ve been playing it for a year and a half and then go to what was the initial feeling. That’s what I usually like. There’s a lot of energy, but you can hear the thinking going on and there is still flow. When that happens it’s pretty cool. But there are some things that I don’t like that I did and I’ll change them. Especially after you get a chance to hear it, it’s definitely a lot easier to edit.
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Taylor Carson
I love going to concerts and discovering up-and-coming musicians, pretty much the reason I started this blog in the first place. A few weeks ago I chatted with singer/songwriter/guitarist Taylor Carson after his performance at Sullivan Hall. He filled me in on his music and how it all began as well as shared some interesting stories of his early days and contacts, including Tommy Hilfiger and producer John Alagia (John Mayer’s Room For Squares, Jason Mraz’s Waiting For My Rocket To Come). While his most recent tour just ended, be sure to check out his MySpace or website for future shows and take a listen to his tunes, I think you’ll like him. Let me know!
How did you get involved in music?
The story is that I was a golfer and I wanted to pursue golf as a career and I hurt my back. I had just started to play guitar so I needed something else to focus all my energy on. I was playing golf every day. I wanted to play it in college, pursue it as a career, be a pro or whatever and I couldn’t anymore. I picked up a guitar and it was very convenient that I didn’t have to use my back so much. I learned some chords and rather than learning other people’s songs I started singing. I always loved singing and the guitar gave me a reason to sing rather than being that guy who’s the awkward guy on stage singing, which is what I never pictured myself being. I still don’t know if I could do that without guitar. It’s fun to sit in with friends’ bands for one or two songs, and I’m just singing, but that would never be my thing – like Maroon 5 guy – without an instrument.
Do you usually have a backup band?
I have a band. There’s a bass player and a drummer. I just put out a solo CD, but my first CD’s were full band. Tonight in particular, they wanted a solo acoustic guy and conveniently enough I have a solo CD out now so it gave people a taste of what’s going on with that CD.
Do you enjoy playing solo better?
Honestly, it depends on my mood. Tonight it was cool. There are definitely moments where you don’t know if you’re getting through to the crowd and you want to look to your friends beside you, and be like, “We’re in this together” type thing. But I do also like the freedom of being able to stop dead in a song and start talking to people or just go off on a tangent or tell a story. With a band, it’s more like, stay inside the box type thing so we all know what’s going on.
So what do you do when you feel a weird vibe from the crowd?
You just have to keep your confidence about you. I’m the one in the spotlight. Even if you’re feeling low, you just have to come across as being unaffected by what’s going on in the crowd, even if you’re being heckled. Say I’m being heckled, that’s just that one person. There’s still maybe someone else who’s silent and is really taking that in, what I’m doing, in a positive way. I just try to think of stuff like that, it might not be related to that one person that’s yelling at me. There are other people that will hopefully take it in and that’s what I try to get across.
You’re doing an east coast tour?
Yeah, next week is the end of it. I was touring the majority of the beginning of this year. Now we’re changing booking agencies. I teach in a music school when I’m home in
I didn’t realize how hard touring is.
It’s fucking exhausting. You’re in a van constantly traveling, eating at rest stops, it’s very tiring. But it’s amazing. There’s something about packing my bag and leaving. Something about the word leaving makes me feel so comfortable. Just packing my van, shutting my door. I know I’m out to do something. I’m leaving for a little while and I’m going to try to make something of this little journey. Hopefully it turns into a big journey.
How do you prepare for tour?
You don’t really. I don’t. Until I leave I just do my normal thing, gym, type stuff every day to keep healthy. When I’m home I don’t practice that much because I’m teaching so often that I’m playing the guitar for six hours straight with kids so that’s keeping my hands fresh. When I get home I don’t really go to the guitar, unless I have an idea, I’ll be like to my friends or girlfriend, “I can’t hang out tonight, I’m working on an idea.” Then I’ll bring the idea to them and be like, “What do you think?” My friends are brutally honest and so is my girl. She’s become a great judge of what will work and won’t and it’s fun to throw her ideas in and we have arguments about it. I’m like, “Well, this is what I think” and then she’ll say something and I’ll be like, “Guess what? It’s my song.” There’s a lot of time where I take what she says.
I started playing guitar when I was 17 and I’m 26. So I’ve been playing for nine years and change. When I was 20 I was living in
Why did you move to
I lived in
Basically nothing happened with those Tommy Hilfiger meetings. I didn’t have a place to live or anything, and this guy was like, “I’ll give you a place to live and a job until you get your feet on the ground.” So I was working at his advertising agency when I was 20. I lived in that house and he was gone all the time. It was a pretty big house, all by myself. When I was 21 I moved out, got an apartment and I’ve been there since I was 20. I didn’t have anywhere else to go. My dad gave me the boot. He was like, “Alright, enough is enough. I hear you singing these songs in your room all the time, get out there and play them for someone.” I thank him all the time. “Thank you for getting my ass in gear.” So that’s how it all started and that’s how I ended up in D.C.
Have you kept in touch with Tommy at all?
No. I met his daughter and then we went over and I met him. It was a fast world. It wasn’t for me at the time. I don’t know if would be for me now either.
Do you regret any of it?
No, not at all. Definitely not. That’s thrown in your face, you just go with it. It was cool. I was hanging out with Tommy Hilfiger. I was like, “I love your clothing. You like my songs, this is awkward.” I went to his fashion show in Bryant Park. What do I we
ar to a fashion show? T-shirt and jeans okay? You can’t be that guy wearing Tommy Hilfiger clothes to his fashion show. You have to be wearing some rival’s clothing. I’ll wear all Calvin Klein. It was so awkward. I was 20, I didn’t have nice clothes. I don’t know. I wore tight gray jeans and I don’t remember what shirt I wore. The girl I was talking to at the time, she was like, “Wear those gray jeans that are tight.” I was like, “Alright, I’ll try them out.”
So you were working with John Alagia?
Briefly. Nothing major. I met him and we hung out for a couple days. He guided me in the right direction in terms of songwriting. I was so new to it and it was so huge for me to be in the presence of him. I don’t have any regrets, you just have to learn from all of it.
Just playing and writing, just keeping it fresh. My first gig was when I was 17, I opened for Dispatch. And then it came complete full circle, now I’m managed by the guy that manages Brad from Dispatch. I know Brad through my manager. From 17 to 20 it was just writing, writing, writing. Kind of slacking off, definitely. You grow from 20 to 26, in any career. You start to buckle down and take it seriously. I wish I had taken advantage of situations when I was 20 or 21 and not be like, “Eh, I’d rather go out drinking.” Now its like, “Alright, I need to play this because I want to and it will be really good for tomorrow.” I still want to have fun, but at the same time this is my job. If I want to watch it blossom I better buckle down a little bit.
What is your writing process like?
It’s so random. There is no process. It generally starts just noodling around on the guitar and I’ll just start humming or something. A lot of times I’ll start singing different ideas until I find that one line that sticks out to me and then based on that one line I build the song.
This song called “Fly” on my new CD, there was a line “I can only be told so many times to change my ways” and then it turned into more of a scat type thing. And the line morphed into “I can only be told so many times to change my ways/I mean to say/I’ve been portrayed as a fool who lost his way/It may be strange but that’s just me/If you look closely, stayed by my side/It’s possible to see the steady heartbeat of a wise man in disguise.” Basically saying to all you doubters of what I’m doing, to all the people who were, like I was slacking off, when I was admittedly. It’s like, “Alright, I accept that, look at me now, I’m doing ok.” Then it goes into that chorus. No matter how serious it gets, it comes to the chorus and its still fun.
Why did you dedicate “The Whiskey Song” to your parents?
My stepmom loves that song. She’s like, “That’s going to be huge with the college kids.” I’m like, “This song is about whiskey, yes it’s for my parents.” It’s funny, my siblings will tell me, “You know she really loves that song.” I’m like, it’s about drinking heavily and losing a girl and drinking whisky to get over it. It’s like my attempt to be a country singer in a way. I don’t even know what type of song it is.
How would you explain your music to someone who has never heard it?
Honestly, I always say death metal [laughs]. The comparisons, it’s always Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews, John Mayer. I always get those. Obviously, I want to be my own thing, I don’t always want to be pigeonholed. It’s not a bad thing to be compared to those widely successful men. I read an old article on Dave Matthews in Rolling Stone where they were saying he sounded so much like Sting. I was in this antique store and they had old Rolling Stone magazines and I was just looking through and I saw Dave Matthews, a little blurb on the cover that said Sting. I was like “What?” Alright, he went through it as well, it’s not just me.
Do you have a favorite song you like to play?
Honestly, right now “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” by the Beatles. That’s just fun to sing. It changes all the time. It’s like a relationship; you have your ups and downs with these songs. Generally, it’s the newest song.
I had written all these songs and my bass player went on tour with Pat McGee Band with Josh Kelley. They were on tour for two and a half months and I had all these songs. My manager was like, “You have these tunes, you’re going to forget them. Why don’t we record them?” And it was just to get them out. So I went into the studio live and recorded these, just guitar and vocals and we liked it enough to put it out.
There are a lot of breakup songs. The girl I’m seeing, we’ve been dating for three and a half years and we broke up for six months. I guess a lot of songs are really personal, but I also try to take in other people’s situations as well, not just mine. You want all your material to be relatable. But everyone goes through breakups and everyone goes through meeting new people and waking up to someone new and being like, “Oh my God! I shouldn’t have done that.” I try to be as honest as possible. A lot of honesty. That’s all I want to be given and that’s all I try to give out.
Do you ever hold back on songwriting because you don’t want to reveal too much?
No. One thing I often don’t do is getting into explaining songs too much because I want people to have their own interpretation. Even telling you that the last CD is about a lot of breakups, that’s me saying a lot. It basically is my diary, it’s seriously, completely therapeutic for me. If I didn’t have that I don’t know. Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that because that is my reality and therapy. It’s just these thoughts that go through my mind and I write them down and put them to music, it’s my escape. When I’m onstage for 60 minutes, I’m away from the world for those 60 minuets. And I get off and I’m back to the grind. There’s nothing that can compare to being up there and doing that.
What do you think about when you’re onstage?
A lot of the songs I’ve been playing so many times [and] I’ll be somewhere else because it’s just going through the motions type of thing. You just think about the most random things. I thought about how I said, “This song is about getting drunk and having sex,” and then my parents are here. You wonder if people are enjoying, there’s a lot of new people, so I’m like, “Am I getting across to them?” I was wondering, “Is someone’s working my merch table right now? Am I selling any CD’s?” You think about everything. I was thinking about my drive up and how I haven’t eaten dinner yet, wondering if Reid [Genauer] was watching my set. It’s everything. It’s like what you do when you’re doing your job, you may be doing something at the computer but you’re thinking about so many different things. I do the same thing when I’m up onstage.
What would you be doing right now if it wasn’t music?
I have no idea. I haven’t thought about that. I went to college for a year and I didn’t want to do it anymore because I wanted to play music. I haven’t thought outside of this. I’m just hoping that I can maintain and get by. Obviously the dream is to be supporting myself, just traveling nonstop. I have no idea what I would do. Maybe I would go back to golf or something like that, be a bartender? I don’t know.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I would like to be on a tour bus, playing to sold out crowds. I don’t know if I see myself ther
e, but that’s where I dream to be. I’m going to work my tail off to get to the place where I’m just playing to as many people as possible, and hopefully people want to hear the songs. Just continuing to write. As long as I’m writing and people are like, “I like that new song.” That’s cool, that’s fine. If I can pay my bills, that’s better. I’m paying my bills now, but I would love to not have to worry about money. I’m in it for the music, but at the same time it also is my job.
Honestly, I think John Mayer is a genius. Anything that guy touches turns to gold musically. There are so many. I was a huge on Spin Doctors, Counting Crows, Blues Traveler. Ryan Adams would be super cool. There’s too many. I would love to do something with Wyclef.
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Q&A with Brad Tursi of Army of Me
Army of Me guitarist Brad Tursi took some time out to chat with me after their performance on the “Get a Life” tour. He filled me in on how he came to join the band, what made him pick up guitar and (for the ladies) how it IS possible to maintain a relationship while being on tour. For all you skeptics out there, Brad shed some light on how he makes it work. Now whoever said dating a guy in a band is a bad idea?
I was in a band called Ki: Theory before this, from
I just said, “I’d love to help you out, but I can’t do full time.” And he said, “Well, we’re looking for someone more full time.” So I said, “Okay, if you ever need anything give me a call.” Right after we had our meeting for Ki: Theory I kind of decided it wasn’t happening anymore. I checked my email right after that and there was a message from Vince saying, “Call me up, I want to talk to you.” So I called him up directly after and then I went up there and did a little audition for them. I practiced their songs to their CD and I went up to D.C. that week and played with Vince. I went straight from one band into the next. I’ve been with them almost five years now.
How would you describe the band dynamic?
There’s a difference. Sometimes you’re in a band with your high school buddies and you’re friends first and then you’re in a band. In this case, I met the guys in Army of Me, I didn’t know who they were. It was music first and then you figure out who everyone is. They’re all great friends of mine. Obviously we get on each others nerves. You spend 24 hours a day with someone, sleep in the same bed as them, you’re bound to know everything about them and they know everything about you. I think we kind of went through a very volatile sort of time. I feel like now, we don’t really go there that often, but even when we do it’s just like, forget about it afterwards. If you hold a grudge you’re going to be miserable. You can’t get away from them. You just learn to respect everyone’s space and get along as best as you can.
What made you decide to pick up a guitar?
I think it was Slash from Guns N’ Roses. I used to have little pictures cut out of Hit Parader and all those magazines pasted up all over my walls of Guns N’ Roses. That was my first concert. I went with the church youth group to a Guns N’ Roses concert. I don’t think the priest really knew what he was getting himself into. It opened up with “Welcome to the Jungle.” “Do you know where you fuckin’ are? You’re in the jungle!” The priest was like, “Uh-oh, what did I do?” They were definitely a big influence.
I found an acoustic guitar in the attic, it was my dad’s who actually played in a band, I came to find out later, with Steven Tyler from Aerosmith when they were in high school. I don’t think any of the original people in Aerosmith were with them at all. They just played in high school together. Maybe there’s some rock in my roots there somewhere. It was just one of those things where once I picked it up, I never stopped playing it. I never got bored of it. I’d just play it all day, every day. Something about it just stuck with me.
Is it possible to have a relationship while on the road?
It is possible. It’s definitely difficult and there needs to be a certain, sort of girl. They have to be, number one, confident in themselves and confident with you that you’ll be faithful to them. If they’re not confident in themself then they’ll always be looking for reasons that you may be doing something to get away from them. And just someone that’s understanding and also someone that has their own life. You can’t have a girl that’s just sitting home, missing you and not doing anything because most likely, she won’t be able to handle it. You also have to love each other a lot and you have to be sensitive to their needs. I don’t want to lose my girlfriend because of this band. So, certain times, you have to make a decision to see her and not play a show. Just be conscientious and hopefully it works.
I try to switch it up. I think inevitably, when we first started extending that section in “Perfect” it was fresh, it was really, truly I was improvising because I hadn’t done that song many times. After you do something enough times you start to fall into some sort of repetition. I sometimes struggle with that because the bands I used to play in, we improvised a lot, so there was always a freshness to the songs. With this sort of style, a lot of times we’re playing the same songs. It’s good because it makes the set polished and the people that are at the show every night, they don’t know that you played it just like that the night before. I’m just trying to get used to that. Even though it’s the same show, you put on the best show you can every night because the crowd is hearing it for the first time, even though you’ve heard it a thousand times.
Do you ever get tired of playing any songs?
Right now I’m getting tired of playing that guitar solo. I want to try something else. Like, “Still Believe in You” we started extending the end of that. And there’s this little guitar thing that I’m really digging on playing that right now. It’s still fresh to me. There will be something else that we do and it’ll be new and then it’ll get old and we’ll think of something else. Its a cycle.
What are your hopes for the next few years?
I’d like to make a new record and I’d just like to be in a place where we can support ourselves doing this. My childhood dreams of fame and fortune are over. Fortune would be nice [laughs]. I just want to be able to play music that we want to play and hopefully be able to make some sort of living doing it. Maybe I’m getting old, I don’t know.
Do you have another job back home when you’re not touring?
Yeah, you just try to do whatever you can. I’ve helped friends paint houses or put in windows. I helped my dad with his car business, I work temp jobs, stand on the street and beg. No, I don’t do that [laughs]. You know, you just do anything you can. You just gotta find a way to make some money. I haven’t paid rent in four years. That’s pretty impressive for a guy who’s 28 years old. I’ve been fortunate, I’ve stayed at Vince’s for a while. A friend of mine let me stay at her place for a while. I’ve been staying with my father for the past few months. We’re gone for so long, I’m just throwing money down the drain if I’m paying rent. It’s just not normal existence.
??ve performed at?
T
here have been obviously a lot of good shows and I’m sure a lot of good shows that I just don’t remember that were great. The one that always sticks out in my head was a Blue October show,
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Q&A with Tim Foreman of Switchfoot
I was lucky enough to chat with Tim Foreman a bit after Switchfoot’s performance this past Saturday at Rutgers. He filled me in on the new album, their upcoming summer tour as well as the writing process for their newest song, “This Is Home,” which will be featured in upcoming movie The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. You can check out the music video for “This Is Home” on their website here. I’ll be posting my review of that concert as well as the MP3 format of the interview within the next week, so check back and let me know what you think!
How’s the new album coming along?
It’s good. There are a lot of songs right now. Honestly, over 100 in various stages of demo and we’re going to try to narrow it down from there. We wanted to make a big mess for ourselves. We even went into the studio way back in August and tracked 15 songs and kind of just cast in a wide net to catch a lot of fish and then throw the best, tastiest ones on the record.
I’d say maybe by the end of this year. If not, then early next year.
We want to do something different. As far as what that is, that’s kind of what this stage is still about. Kind of experimenting.
Well you look for the songs that resonate with you because you’re going to be playing them every night for the next, could be two years, 10 years, whatever. So you want to believe in them. So you have to believe it. And then from there, you’re looking for a common thread between all the songs. And then sonically too, certain songs just lend themselves to new ideas and fresh sounds and other ones don’t. Trying to find a cohesive thematic and also musical thread throughout the record.
Yeah, that’s how we did the fall tour. This tour there’s a few different ways that the money is going to go to them. Tickets, one way and also tour merchandise. It’s just kind of a dream come true. It’s a really diverse bill, a bunch of bands that have never toured together from Robert Randolph to us. Then there’s going to be a side stage with a bunch of more punk rock type bands. The goal is to have the most diverse line-up possible but all with the commonality of trying to make a difference.
It starts late August.
It is because you’re trying to put yourself . . . I mean sometimes you’ve already written a song and it just happens to line-up with the theme of a movie like A Walk to Remember for instance. With this, it was actually specifically writing for the movie. I know Jon was trying to capture the longing that C.S. Lewis often writes about. Maybe we’re created for a place that we’ve never even seen. This magical world called Narnia kind of captures that longing. He was trying to capture that in “This Is Home” and I think he really nailed it. It’s a very nostalgic tune.
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Army of Me
I thought it might be cool to read parts of the interviews with the guys of Army of Me together, to see each member’s thoughts on life on the road, groupies, playing to unenthusiastic crowds etc. So you better know who is answering, the guys are frontman Vince Scheuerman, drummer Dennis Manuel, guitarist Brad Tursi and bass player Dave Cullen.
What is your favorite aspect of touring?
Vince: There’s so much about tour that’s cool. Traveling around the country. Sometimes you take it for granted, but the fact that we don’t have to be sitting at a desk from 9 to 5, we’re really lucky to be doing what we do. It’s great, we meet so many cool people and we can have this affect on people. It’s a cool thing where people come up to us and are like, “I really love your music. Your song made me cry.” To see that is really cool and just being around all these people, we have a lot of fun. Everyone on the tour is really cool, all the bands, the crew. I like hanging out with my band, these guys are my friends.
Brad: I think one of my favorite parts about touring is meeting the different people that we tour with. You’re kind of thrown into constant contact with people that you don’t know. But, you usually bond pretty easily because you’re all doing the same thing and it’s the same sort of frame of mind. That’s what really makes it enjoyable because I don’t want to hang out with my own band while I’m on tour. We’ve met a lot of great people on this tour, from the crew to the bands. It’s probably my favorite part about touring. Oh yeah, and playing the shows and all that stuff too. [laughs]
Dennis: It’s just fuckin’ awesome to play. It definitely gets me up in the morning. There’s a party every night, if you want it. All the people you meet and all the bands we’re touring with are really nice.
What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t involved in the band?
Dave: Atrophy. I would lie in bed, use none of my muscles and it would suck ass. I don’t know! I could remember doing impressions of Michael Jackson when I was five. It’s just been music, music all the way. I have no idea. What would I be doing instead of music? I would die.
Vince: That’s a good question, I don’t know. Working at McDonalds? [laughs] I don’t know if I have any other skills. I got a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Maybe I’d do something like that.
Dennis: Probably be doing live sound or starting a studio, which is my day job. I’ve been doing live sound for the last 12 years as my only job. If I get a house gig somewhere, all I have to do is give myself a number of subs to work for me while I’m gone, so I just schedule who works for me and it’s still my job when I come home. It’s not going to put the kids through college, but it’s something to keep me above water.
Brad: That’s a good question. I ask myself that sometimes and I don’t know the answer. I have other dreams that are romanticized I’m sure. Traveling. I’ve always been into boats. I always thought maybe I could do something with boats, whether it be crew on a sailboat. I really like sailboats. I’d like to sail across the
What are the cons to being on tour?
Dave: Well, you’ve seen them. In actuality, there are zero cons. None, zip, absolutely zero. What’s bad about touring? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It outweighs it to the bajillionth degree. Sometimes it’s fun to sit there and complain and pick out what actually blows, and what actually blows is the things that keeps everybody from trying. And that’s just fine by everyone who tours. It’s not for everyone. If you’re not young and spirited and you don’t think anything is funny, then you shouldn’t do it. Vans that are small and stink and have lots of trash in them suck, sleeping with five guys in a hotel rooms sucks, none of that stuff is fun, it’s certainly not something that you want to do, but it’s completely outweighed by being out here and it’s so great, it’s the best life. Everybody on this tour loves touring and you can tell. Even on a shitty night, it’s not that shitty.
Brad: It’s impossible to have a normal existence especially when you have other people in your life that have normal existences. It’s really hard to balance this world and the other world. You’re always disappointing your girlfriend or someone by saying you’ll be here and you can’t. You don’t spend as much time with people as you might want to. In the end, we really can’t complain because we’re hanging out with our friends, playing music.
Vince: Tour definitely beats you up a little bit because you don’t get much sleep, a lot of times you’re driving really long hours just to get to the next city. If you let it get to you it can wear you down. I’ve definitely been on tours where I was sick the entire time I was on the road. One time I was on tour and I got a cold and it turned into bronchitis. I got antibiotics and you know how you take antibiotics for 10 days? Well, before the tenth day I was getting sick with something else. Who gets sick while there on antibiotics? To me, that’s probably hardest part. Some people miss family members or girlfriend’s back home. I’m solo at the moment so I’m just happy to be out there playing every night. I don’t have too much to worry about. Trying to pay the bills is always a concern. Being on the road, we as a band don’t make that much money, so trying to make ends meet is difficult. There’s a lot of sacrifices you make being on the road, because as fun as it is to be traveling all over the place, it’s hard to never be in one place more than a day. That’s the price you pay for rock ‘n’ roll.
Dennis: You can’t really work if you need to. And now, me, Brad and Dave have girlfriends. It’s hard on that front to be away for so long. This is a good week for me because we’ve been home like three times this week. Getting in a van every day is not fun. Especially the way we’re doing it, with no trailer. You get used to it.
Everyone wants to know about the groupies and the girls.
Vince: No one wants to come on the 15 passenger van for a tour. Nobody cares about little, old Army of Me. You meet a lot of girls. Girls like guys in bands. When I meet a girl, and if she’d be like, “What are you doing? You wanna hang out?” I’d be like, “I don’t even know you. You don’t even know me.” I feel like I’d be taking advantage of someone and I’d feel weird about it. That’s not my thing. Not to be some great, moral expert. They don’t care about the van anyway; they just want to meet The Used.
Den
nis: Even if we have any
groupies, if they make it far enough backstage and then out to the back of the club, and they see what we’re in it kind of kills the mood. There really isn’t much affect of groupies for me. I’m more looking for a beer.
Dave: Are there really even any groupies? I’ve only seen them once in a while.
Do you remember the first time you heard your song on the radio?
Vince: It’s been a long time. It might have been “These Hands” which is an old song, before we were even Army of Me. I was probably in my car and I probably knew it was coming on because it was a Sunday night where they play local bands and they tell you ahead of time and you tune in, waiting for 9 ‘o’ clock to come.
Brad: I remember hearing “Come Down to D.C.” on the radio in D.C. I also remember hearing “Going Through Changes” out in
Dennis: Probably my car driving home from work. I think it was “These Hands.” If it’s something you’re working toward, it doesn’t really surprise you. I think I had gotten a phone call that it was going to happen. It was more me sitting there as an engineer thinking, “How does that sound on the radio as opposed to the record?” because everything on the radio is squashed. I’m more analyzing it then actually enjoying it. It’s definitely cool to see people that you don’t know, say on the west coast, singing the words. That’s cooler to me then hearing it for the first time. Its like, “Wow, we used to be this band from D.C. These kids know who we are.” It’s crazy even if it is just that one song.
What do you think about when you’re playing onstage?
Brad: Sometimes it’s just nothing. Sometimes you’re thinking about trying to sing in tune, make sure you’re playing the right notes. You’re not thinking about a castle in the sky. Sometimes, especially in sections that are musical and more improvising, you try to just close your eyes and not think about anything, just be in that moment and let the music take you somewhere. That’s the best parts.
Vince: There’s a lot of stuff going through your mind, like what’s happening onstage, if I can hear my voice, what the other people around me are playing, what it sounds like, also thinking about what the audience is doing, how they’re reacting, just noticing people in the crowd, but also thinking about the music, the songs, the lyrics, what I’m saying and singing. I get into the music and the words and find something in there to latch onto and sing that helps me connect with the emotions of the song. Sometimes I’m thinking about what the hell am I’m going to say between the next song.
Dennis: I’m pretty much between zoning out and being very analytical about what I do. I’m trying to go for it and play right. I wouldn’t call it autopilot. Dave’s kind of frustrated because I don’t make eye contact with him. When I’m up there I’m in my own world. I basically hear it when you play a bad note, that’s when I notice that you’re even there. I see pictures of myself when I wish I didn’t make those faces, but it’s just naturally what happens.
How much does the audience’s vibe impact your performance?
Dave: I try not to look into the crowd. Somebody told me a long time ago, like a little secret, to look above the people, so you’re not looking at anybody specifically, but it looks like you’re looking at them. That’s what I try to do. To be honest, if I was singing, that’d be a different story, that’s your thing. How do you fight that? I don’t know, that’s tough. I’m a bass player; I’m a tough guy, I try to tough through it. It’s harder in front of so many more people. I feel like you can win over a small crowd a lot more easily then you can win over a big crowd.
Vince: If the crowd is really into the music, you feel real good about what you’re doing and you get more into it. If people are giving good feedback, it makes you a little more free and you feel more comfortable on stage. When we’re on stage, we’re still vulnerable people, we’re standing up playing our songs and wondering, “Do these people think that we suck? Do these people like us? Do these people want to throw things at us?” All these things are going through your mind as well as playing your songs and trying to get across what you’re trying to say. If people seem to be enjoying themselves, it takes a little bit off your mind so you can get more into the music. If people look like they just don’t care at all, they don’t give a shit, it’s kind of a bum out. We’re kind of taking a little bit of a different approach, which is to go full on, no matter what’s happening, just try to show people that we care, and hopefully when we do that, they’ll care. It’s weird because we’ll go to one place and a crowd will be totally psyched, and then we’ll go to another place in a different city and they’ll be like staring at a blank wall. I don’t know what the difference is, if it’s the night of week or the amount of alcohol.
Brad: It’s not supposed to, but it does. Nobody wants to play music for people who don’t want to hear it. That gets discouraging sometimes. You just have to believe in your music. For the people that stare at the wall while you’re playing, there’s always people that come up to you after the show and did enjoy it. I’m just happy to play in front of as many people as we are right now and just try to win over as many fans as we can.
Dennis: All that shit used to affect me. Like, “How many people are here? Are we responsible for it, is it on our heads?” If there wasn’t a lot of people and it was our show it used to freak me out, but I don’t even see them anymore. Just kind of do what you do and if they like it, they like it. What else can you do? It’s almost like I have my eyes closed and my eyes open. Vince is trying to engage them and jump on them.
Do you have a favorite song to play every night?
Brad: Different songs react differently each night. I really enjoy “2 Into 1.”
Dennis: Probably “Perfect” because of the whole experimental part, break down we have going on. It’s always exciting.
Dave: “Still Believe in You” is a great track, the bass line kicks ass. That’s a lot of fun to play. “Perfect” is always great because there’s so much improvisation. We get a chance to rehearse it all the time. Improvisation, in a live setting in front of that many kids, if Brad does something great or Dennis does something great or I do something great, it gets the next guy. It’s cool and you laugh and you smile. When you are just killing it musically, you can’t help but laugh. Music definitely enforces laughter and it’s really cool when you’re improvising onstage like that, it happens a lot.
As always, if you like what you read, let me know! And be sure to check out Army of Me either on their website or MySpace.