By Stephen Pitalo
Better Than Ezra is coming up on its fifth year together, and as guitarist Kevin Griffin, bassist Tom Drummond, and drummer Cary Bonnecaze celebrate their performances at Zephyrfest and South By Southwest, they prepare for a two-night run at the Varsity Friday, Aug. 26 and Saturday, Aug. 27.
A long way from their first gig opening for Will and the Kill at Murphy's, they still remember to give their fans the little eztras (a free two-song tape at Christmas called Flocked, answering machine samples in songs, all-ages shows in a town that never has all-ages shows). The Ezras continue to pull a strong highschool and collegiate following with their Outlaws/Bad Company/Beuffalo Springfield-meets-Athens, Ga. sound. Having played everywhere from the Palladium in Los Angeles to every hole in the wall from Fayetteville to Boston, the band continues to promote their latest CD Deluxe and further carve their niche as a Red Stick rock staple.
Earlier this year, Better Than Ezra talked to REVELRY reporter Stephen Pitalo about everything from relationships to KISS to stolen car stereos.
Revelry: What's new?
Kevin: This summer means Europe because the CD single for "In the Blood" is being released, and we'll be recording som B-sides. We'll be in Amsterdam, Germany, and the Benelux area-- you know, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg? The band Citizen Dick from the movie "Singles" was big there, so we figure it's just the place for us.
Revelry: The sound of Deluxe differs from Surprise (an earlier Swell Records casette, soon to be rereleased on CD with newly recorded extra tracks). How much of the change was conscious effort?
Tom: We had been living in Los Angeles from last August up until this last spring. Through some friends and some werid circumstances, we met up with Dan Rothchild. He helped us by taking the producution from a different perspective. He comes from a long tradition of great producers [his father wass Doors' producer Paul A. Rothchild].
Kevin: We had been writing songs for a year before we made Surprise. Then three years went by and many things happened to us personally, so the next record would naturally sound different. And it was good to come from a Southern rock band that mainly played in the South, and then go out west and meet somebody froma completely different background and have them come in. Out there, people are always saying that you either "get it" or you don't "get it". Well, Dan got it.
Revelry: A quick run of Deluxe songs: How was "Good" written?
Kevin: It was a four chord progression, and I wanted to go with something that simple. Some of the best songs ever written come out that way, they're a nice run like that. The song is about coming home to find your significant other isn't who you thought they were.
Cary: Actually, we do it all with mirrors.
Kevin: And smoke. Come to the show and you'll see lots of smoke. Didn't we have vanilla-scented smoke at that show in Jackson?
Cary: Passion Fruit. Kevin: Passion Fruit! Everyone was completely nauseated by the end of the first set. It was the largest smoke machine they make, too.
Revelry: "Teenager" is a very dark song.
Kevin: My mom heard the song and said it makes me sound like I had a horrible childhood, which I didn't, I had a really normal childhood. When we were out in L.A., there's always people you know who on the fringe or came froma broken home, where they were never shown that they had any self worth. People tend to go out on those fringes.
Cary: (mockingly) I had the hardest time being a teenager. Sob. Sniffle.
Revelry: What's all that stuff at the end of "Coyote"? Kevin: What stuff?
Cary: We have no idea what you're talking about.
Revelry: You know... that "Saurkrauten" stuff.
Cary: You mean street side Jesus?
Kevin: That's a song about male prostitutes on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. You can take it from there.
Revelry: The song "Porcelain" is a bit different from that.
Kevin: I was riding a mountain bike up in the Hollywood hills, and came down and started singing it. Cary came up with the harmony on top of the chorus, which is very important for the song.
Cary: We were recording that on a four track in our apartment, and with all the effects, it really sounded, uh, real pretty.
Kevin: Lots of reverb and echo. Actually I had a crush, for lack of a better word, on this guirl, and she ended up with another guy, and that's what it's about. It's when you see someone you are just head over heels about, and there's really nothing you can do about it.
Revelry: All theses songs seem relationship-oriented.
Kevin: Yeah
Cary: The next one will be about inanimate objects.
Kevin: Surprise was more about the age we were. And then we all experienced relationships, etc. I didn't really realize that about the album, but I think if you examine things too subconsciously then you lose something.
Revelry: "The Killer inside" is about what?
Kevin: I think it's the dark side.
Cary: Don't look directly at it when you play it.
Kevin: With any kind of relationship, there is a part of you that can be very possessive, physically or mentally. Everyone has messed up a relationship at one time or another, and it's that desire to not to want to mess up. You know, repeatedly being abusive. And to not let that part of yourself come out. There is always something, no matter how close you are, that the other person doesn't know about you. (Pause, turns to Cary) That has the makings of a great movie. 'The person you should be most afraid of-- is in the bed next to you!"
Cary: The Killer Inside THE HOUSE!
Kevin: Part Two, Friday at 8 p.m.!
Revelry: Who is "Rosealia"?
Kevin: She is a 78-year-old-woman who owns a restaurant in Santa Fe, and this is not official, but word has it that she is a witch. She is a sweet old lady, but I hear she dabbles in the occult. I don't know if she's a good witch or a bad witch. The song definitely has that Tex-Mex feel to it.
Revelry: Are there any songs in the Ezra background that have quietly been put away?
Cary: I believe "Rosetta Stone" won't be surfacing.
Kevin: Ultimately, someone will ask us to play "Devil Girl" and I just don't think that song sounds right with just the three of us. Just as a side note, we did a first cassette with "Tom Squaw", "Three Sisters", "Holden" and "Shelter". The bad thing was that we only had one copy of it, and with my cassette dubber, every time we rerecorded it, it sped it up, so by the tenth dub we sounded like Brian Wilson.
Revelry: What cassette is in the car stereo right now?
Cary: Nothing. It was stolen.
Kevin: We keep Kleenex there now. It fits perfectly.
Cary: The new Concrete Blonde is something I've been listening to a lot lately.
Kevin: We were listening to the Stones' "Some Girls" earlier. Great album. I've always liked bands with little snippets, little personal touches.
Revelry: Is it scary to have people interpret your songs personally, and sometimes give new meaning to the song?
Kevin: You mean that disgruntled postal who went on a spree after listening to "Heaven"? No, really, I think that kind of thing is great.
Revelry: In a previous interview, Kevin said he always wanted to be Ace Frehley of Kiss.
Kevin: You said you wouldn't bring that up. All right, yes I did, and any one who knows Kiss remembers how Ace used to bend backward when he played his leads, almost parallel to the ground. I thought that was the coolest thing, and my mom would come into my room and I'd be there with my K mart guitar and my plastic amplifier bending backward. She probably thought I was having seizures because I was falling on my back a lot.
Cary: When I was little, I used to wish that my dad would bring Kiss home from work, like on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" when famous people would come home with the dad.
Kevin: But it was always a band like the Smelly Radishes or something-- "I can't believe it! The Smelly Radishes are in my hometown?"
Cary: "And they're staying here tonight!" Kevin: "Cool!"
Revelry: Do you continue to deny your romantic involvement with the Breeders?
Kevin: Let's just say we had a ball with the Breeders. Wink. Wink.
Cary: Yeah.
Kevin: By the way, "Cannonball" is actually (begins strumming guitar and singing) "bend me, shape me, anyway you want me..." now how can you lose with a verse like that?
*Photo to be posted soon