American Hi-Fi – Interview

I heard you’ve been pretty sick.

Man, I got knocked down with the flu really bad. I haven’t been that sick since I was in high school. We had to cancel shows. It was a gnarly fever and I couldn’t even get out of bed for three days.

It has to effect you more now that you are singing.

Totally. I did a show in Atlanta the night it hit me and I literally had to leave right after the show, actually we cut the show short, my voice was thrashed. I couldn’t even talk at the end of the set. I felt bad because we really had a great crowd out there.

What’s it like now going from the unknown guy as a drummer now to the frontman?

It’s cool. I like it. It’s been really fun. This whole process has been so fun. It’s like a totally new challenge. It’s three of my best friends and we are rolling with it. We never thought we’d be a real band, I’m not convinced we are one now (laughs), and never thought we’d make a record. Then we go and make one with Bob Rock, who is sort of our dream guy. Every day it’s something new. Now it’s like we never thought we’d get played on the radio. It’s crazy. It’s actually really kick-ass.

Had you ever thought of yourself in the part of a frontman or a singer? And have you ever sung?

No, I never had. It wasn’t one of those things where I’m back playing drums going, ‘Fuck, I have to get out front.’ I never thought about it. This was just a whim. It just seemed to work out from the beginning.

What about guitar? I noticed on the Nina Gordon album you played some guitar and now here you are playing for your group.

I play a little guitar.

Enough to get by?

Totally. I play rhythm guitar. I have good time. (laughs) I do play some little riffs on our album and some of the little indie rock noodling. Jamie plays all the solos and I do the little chimey parts and rhythm stuff.

Coming from a drumming background, are you playing drums or guitars to come up with songs?

Definitely guitar, but as soon as the song is forming in my head I hear the drum parts. It goes hand in hand.

Instinct.

Totally.

Is it weird having a drummer and then him wondering, ‘I wonder what Stacy thinks about this’?

Totally. The thing that is cool is that Bryan and I are a lot alike. He always nails the song right away. But if it isn’t totally what I want, I just suggest something and he is so cool about it.

How long have these songs been in existence?

I really started writing at the end of Veruca Salt. A couple of the songs have been around since then, but a lot of them were written right before we started recording and, two or three of them were written while we were recording. So they are really fresh.

So you haven’t been sitting on them.

No. I’m not bored of any of them.

Is everyone trying to get the Veruca Salt scoop?

Everyone has been asking about that. It’s interesting because there are a bunch of albums out there about the same subject.

Well, the Veruca Salt record for one.

Then you have Nina Gordon’s and ours and the Caviar record. They all have their own take on what happened.

That is crazy. You also were a member of Letters To Cleo before they were anything, so you went through that process before. How did that help with American Hi Fi?

It helps a lot. Basically, this is the first time I’ve put a record out and had no expectations for it. When I was in Letters To Cleo, we were just getting big in Boston. Then we put out a record on an indie label and then a major and so forth. So every time there was this expectation that the next record, it was going to be big. We thought the second Cleo record was going to do really well. I think it still could have did well if the label hadn’t been a bunch of idiots. I joined Veruca Salt when they were working on their second record. I thought it was going to be huge. It did well, but once again I thought it was going to be a platinum record. This is the first time I put a record and I have no fucking idea if anyone is going to buy it. I realistically would love to sell records because I want to make another one. I have songs now that I think are better than any on this one.

Are you writing alone?

Basically when I write a song I write the whole thing. It’s not the control freak in me, it’s just how it has worked. So far that is how it’s gone down. Things could change. Also a lot of the songs I wrote for this I wrote away from the band. So really there wasn’t a band for me to bounce ideas off.

How did you get a deal?

We started by getting together in Letters To Cleo’s rehearsal space, get drunk, and rock out. We were having such a good time that I thought, ‘Maybe we should record some of these.’ We went into the studio not knowing if I could sing or not. Cleo’s PA was shitty and I was screaming into it, so you couldn’t hear me. So we laid everything else down and everyone went in the control room and watched me laughing and I just did it. So we took a few songs we recorded and sent them to people we knew in the industry and we were shocked that we got responses so fast. The whole thing with us getting a deal was really fast. Everyone wanted us to go do a showcase in New York or LA or whatever and we were like, ‘You know, we don’t really want to do that. If you are interested, then you come to Boston and see us.’ It was kind of a nice way of doing things. It keeps people who were really interested obviously. We didn’t want these guys in the industry just there flexing their muscle.

Were they trying to outdo each other?

Right. I wanted it to be about our music, not about how much power some guy has in the industry. I don’t want someone to sign me for some sick amount of money but in the end doesn’t give a shit about me.

You are right. It seems some guy at a label takes a group and signs them and doesn’t give a crap about them. We hear tons of great albums that end up selling a few thousand copies.

Right. There are millions of phenomenal albums out there and no one ever hears of them.

Our top albums are always the ones no one knows.

That goes back to why I don’t have expectations for this record. There are so many bands stacked up against you.

It seems like the bands that are artists are the ones that aren’t big sellers.

Always. And you know, going back to labels, the worst thing is that you get signed, record an album, and it could be over a year later before it gets released.

We’ve had your album for a while.

Our album has been done for a long time, so we’ve been waiting for it to come out. And in the meantime half the guys that were at the label when you got signed are gone now. So that sucks. Luckily that hasn’t happened to us.

You still have that time frame where your album is on the shelf and you get bored of the songs because of the time in between.

Hell, we could make another record right now. I’m ready. But that is a good thing.

It’s marketing. You can’t get past it.

I know, and the reason why ours was held so long is thirty reasons why.

Especially Christmas.

Right. I mean, that is the hardest quarter. And when the label told us they weren’t putting out the record until 2001 we were bummed, but we knew it was the right thing to do. They wanted to focus on us and told us that if they put it out in August that they couldn’t do it. So we were cool with that.

I was on the web site and I was reading about the shows. And a lot of people want you to join up with a tour with Marvelous 3.

I like those guys. That would be a kick-ass tour.

It seems like they went under the radar. I’ve been a fan of theirs for a while.

There is a good awareness about them.

Are you making your plans for the summer?

Yeah. We’ve pretty much got it all planned out. We’re going on tour with Eve 6, and after that we are hooking up with Our Lady Peace for like six weeks.

I wanted to go out on a less serious note. I was wondering about what are your guilty pleasures. Like riders, music, anything like that.

As far as the rider goes, we don’t get shit right now. We are lucky if we get a case of beer. We’ll get like chips and salsa, which is already open and half gone. We aren’t treated like royalty.

What would be your dream rider?

I don’t know. But when Veruca Salt opened for Bush, every night we got a catered meal at every venue. I’m down with that. But normal clubs, it’d be nice to get clean socks every night, or maybe batteries. We don’t ask for much.

So they can leave the M&M’s alone.

Yeah. We don’t need all the red M&M’s pulled out.

Is there anything musically you might be embarrassed to admit to?

Um. I’m not embarrassed of anything really. But I’m really into Destiny’s Child right now.

Really?

I’m serious, but I’m not like super embarrassed about that.

Is there anything that you are less embarrassed to admit you like?

I kind of went back a bit and took some records I haven’t heard in a while. But also I got turned onto this band called The Juliana Theory. I really like them. I’m really getting into Prince again. I have Dirty Mind and Sign ‘O’ The Times with me. I love Prince And The Revolution. Also Tsar.

That Kathy Fong song?

Yeah.

They got that Bowie vibe.

Yeah, and Cheap Trick.

Like Marvelous 3.

Yeah. They are almost too far ahead of their time.

I know. I don’t think the kids are ready for them.

For real.

Those big choruses and stuff are too much for them, but I love it.

Me too. I totally grew up on that stuff like Ratt And Poison. That is where I come from. I’m not sure if we are ready for that yet.

Before I forget, I had to ask after listening to “Blue Day” if you were a big Rolling Stones fan.

Oh man, big time. Big time. We threw that whole lick in there. I hope they don’t sue us.

+ charlie craine
03.12.01