Staind – Interview [2001]

On the phone, we found interview virgin Johnny April. Though you may not get it from the interview, Johnny was not only a cool guy, but really hilarious too. Many times we stopped to laugh, only to forget what we were laughing about moments before. I have to admit to be a casual listener of Staind, but after finding such personality behind the group, I can’t help but to find my devotion renewed.

Johnny April: I never do phoners because I’m the stoner of the band. I don’t even know the song titles yet (for new album Break The Cycle), but I can play them. (laughs)

There are a lot of fans eagerly awaiting this album. Lots look to you guys as influences. How does that strike you as a musician?

It’s surprising and it’s awesome. You never think something like that would happen. I’ve been trying to make this happen for twenty something years and I always wonder, ‘Is this really happening?’ It’s a dream come true.

Growing up, was there a band that you would have given your right arm to hang with?

Actually it was Van Halen. They were my favorite. I wanted to be a musician since I was five or six. My sisters would listen to the Beatles and I would jump around the cellar with a tennis racket, like I’m sure people do today. I used to take my dad’s jigsaw and cut guitar shapes out of plywood and jump around the house with them. That’s how it starts out.

I was thinking for me it was Van Halen too, but the David Lee Roth days.

Oh, definitely pre-Sammy Hagar days. I like that song “I Can’t Drive 55”, which nobody knows, that was a good song, but other than that David Lee Roth was the man.

Then I was thinking that Motley Crue was a pretty big influence when I was a kid.

They were good. Shout At The Devil was a great album. The first song I actually learned was “You Really Got Me” by Van Halen because it only has like six notes. Then I started another song with seven notes and here I am today.

My first songs were definitely Motley Crue stuff.

Nikki Sixx was an excellent writer.

What really got you playing?

Before I could get my hands on a guitar, when I was fourteen and a half, I had a snare drum and cymbal in the cellar. I used to bang away to Herb Albert records. All the kids’ parents will know who I’m talking about. I bet they’ll think it’s funny, but those were my parents’ records.

What took you from guitar to bass?

I initially got an old Silvertone guitar and the guys I was hanging out with, one guy had a crappy guitar and the other had a drum set, so they needed a bass player. So I took the strings off the guitar and took a file from my dad’s workshop and filed slots so the strings were even and I was the bass player.

Isn’t it funny that the guy who ends up being a bass player is because some other guy was the singer, guitar player, or drummer?

(laughs) I’ve heard that story before. Before I cut the slots on the guitar I was only playing for like a month or so. But curling my fingers around to touch those frets, something about how my wrists are built, made it hard. But with the bass I could lay my fingers flat without hurting my wrist. It was natural for me to switch.

There are a lot of fans who aren’t musicians that don’t know much about the difference from the bass to the drum carrying the beat.

That is true. I didn’t know what a bass was until my brother worked one summer and bought a stereo and had Van Halen, and there was this like boom and I never heard that before in my life. It really turned me on.

Is there anyone today that you see as a bass player that rocks?

You know what? I’m a real picky fucker. There aren’t many I think rock. I saw this guy the other day who I thought rocked. We saw the video and then saw them live and they just blew us away. It’s this bass player from the band Mudvayne. That guy freaking rocks. I went up to him afterwards and shook his hand and told him he rocked. Actually all of Staind went up and watched them because we saw the video and were fans.

You know what bass player blew me away?

Who?

The guy from Soul Coughing. They aren’t together anymore. He played a standup bass!

No way!

And when he hit that thing, man, it would thump.

So they were a rock band with a standup bass?

They were one of my favorite bands.

How did you originally hear about them?

I can’t remember what band it was, but they told me that they were the best unknown band in the country, that was when their first record came out forever ago.

That is cool.

I love when bands tell me of some band they heard or something because it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. You never know where these cool bands are.

I know. It’s like a personal endorsement.

For real. Do you ever see any bands that are unknown to bring on the road?

That would be great. To be honest there hasn’t been too many bands that have piqued our interest. We get a lot of demos, whether they are throwing them onstage, handing to them while we sign autographs. I hate to be discouraging, but it’s really hard. We got lucky when Limp Bizkit found us.

Is it weird now that you are on the other side of the fence?

Yeah. That night we left the gig the other guys were like, ‘Oh my God, they are going to get us signed,’ and I was like, ‘Man, you guys are fucking idiots. Man, you fell for it. He probably tells every band that.’ A few months went by and it came together. Fred told us, ‘You wait, you guys are going to be huge.’ He knew what he was talking about. I’m just a very skeptical person.

I understand it, especially when you are a band trying to get signed. There are a million bands trying to achieve the same exact thing.

There is. There are a bazillion bands.

It is like winning the lottery.

Exactly.

And then you have to win it again after you are signed.

Yeah, you have to have the stuff to back it up. I’m sick of people saying it’s all about who you know. Because, yeah, you do have to know people, but you have to have substance too.

Once you get signed you are one in a few thousand signed to that label. It doesn’t make you anything else. You still have to make it.

When you get signed, it doesn’t mean you have it made. That is just the beginning. You really have to produce.

There are tons of really great bands that never make it. We hear them daily.

I know. There are so many factors. You can have a great cd and everybody loves it, but you see them live and they just stand still. Or maybe they are ugly. (we both laugh)

I’ve never heard that before. That is hilarious.

Maybe they are eight hundred pounds, nothing against big people or whatever. (laughs)

I’ve seen a lot of bands that just stand there. It’s the worst.

I know. They sit down and can play the notes during soundcheck, but once they start bouncing around onstage they miss notes and get really sloppy. It’s a hard compromise.

Okay, I have an off the wall question.

Cool.

Since you guys spend a lot of time together, I’m curious about what qualities does each member have that perhaps you wish you had and what qualities do you have that you wish they had?

Those guys all have great qualities. Mike is a great businessman. He is sharp minded. John is a very flexible person. Aaron always has some cool insight on something. I’m trying to think if I have any qualities they might like to have. (laughs) I’m like, hmmm, I don’t know.

Something like, ‘Well, I wash my feet on tour and they don’t.’

(we both laugh)

You know this isn’t something good, but I bet they wish I wouldn’t smoke in the morning because every morning I’m in the front of the bus smoking while they are sleeping. I’m up there smoking up the joint. (laughs)

Speaking of touring, how do you now break up the monotony of the road?

I smoke a lot of pot and space out. (laughs) There isn’t much to do on the road. I have weird hobbies and I do that on the road. I collect antique bottles and I like to talk on the cb radio long distances.

You can’t bring the old cb on the road?

I wish.

So what other hobbies do you have?

I’m a lizard keeper, I go fishing, I practice survival, I do other weird things like martial arts and fish taxidermy. (we both laugh)

Taxidermy is interesting. Can’t you just stop while on the road and grab some road kill and sew some of them up?

(laughs) Actually, I never did an animal. So I don’t know if I could handle that. I love fishing so that is how I got into that.

The only thing I know about taxidermy is that a friend and I called some guy up who did deer and stuff and we were pretending to get prices on some animals and we asked how much for a human. And the guy is like ‘What?’ And my friend goes, ‘How much for my old lady’s head?’ Well, he was a little pissed.

(laughs) Dude, that is funny. And I bet it would be expensive. (we both laugh)

I was wondering when you were growing up dreaming the dream, was it as good as life is now?

Well, I don’t have a mansion in Beverly Hills yet, but it is amazing. It’s so much more than I ever dreamed.

+ charlie craine