Better Than Ezra

Those in the know will be nodding their head at today’s interview selection, while others might be wondering what’s going on. After all, the radio hits within Better Than Ezra’s career occurred in the rearview mirror, a band that made “Good” on their sing-along melodies, musical stories and alt-rock prowess. But for those who’ve been paying Closer attention to the New Orleans three-piece, you know that Kevin Griffin and company have never stopped making great pop/rock music.

As a songwriter, Griffin’s written numerous singles for Howie Day, Missy Higgins, David Cook, Tristan Prettyman, and Graham Colton, but he always saves his best for each subsequent BTE release. This year’s offering, Paper Empire, features more of what we’ve grown love to from Griffin, Tom Drummond and new drummer Michael Jerome (longtime drummer Travis McNabb is now a permanent part of Sugarland) – the infectious charm of “Wounded,” the complete surprise of “Nightclubbing” and the hook of lead single “Absolutely Still.”

Sacrificing a game of LED football, Griffin took time to answer some questions about the current state of Better Than Ezra’s world and what it’s like to have a new member.

SSv: How much do you guys miss Travis? How does Better Than Ezra feel right now?

Kevin Griffin: Losing a member like Travis is bittersweet. We were taking some time off, because Tom and I have kids and Travis doesn’t. So he’s known the Sugarland guys for a long time and we all agreed that it was a good opportunity for him. We told him to get out on the road with them and he’s been wanting to get into that Nashville scene. It was a very amicable split, I guess, or end to a great partnership. So we’re really happy for him and he’s happy for us. He played on four songs on the new album and there’s nothing but good vibes there.

But anytime you have to end something, that’s a bummer. We’ve really gotten used to the way that Travis plays, which is real slinky and a good sense of rhythm. So looking for a new drummer, we had the bar set high. We knew Michael Jerome’s playing and when we finally got to play with him, he brings his own original thing as well. It feels different but familiar at the same time as players. You really do get used to playing with somebody, so it wasn’t until we rehearsed with a couple other drummers who had a certain style that we weren’t used to that we felt we really had to get the right drummer and Michael is that guy.

SSv: Obviously with just a trio, losing one longtime member is such a vital component. So you really do have to lose and gain something, I would think.

Kevin: If we’ve lost anything, we’ve lost that slinkiness. Travis is super, duper, duper slinky. Michael has a slinkiness but he’s a more aggressive player than Travis. Travis pounded hard, but Michael’s drumming is really physical, which is great. We definitely prefer that as opposed to going the other way.

SSv: Just so we get our terms straight, what do you mean by slinkiness?

Kevin: Well, I’m thinking of “Live Again” off of How Does Your Garden Grow? That’s the best example of just classic Travis.

SSv: How much is Michael found on Paper Empire?

Kevin: He plays on half of the album. I don’t really know if fans will be able to tell a difference. Michael’s a southerner and he and Travis are the same age. They grew up listening to the same music. They’re both fans of John Bonham and Stuart Copeland, so they come from the same school and we chose him for that reason, so I don’t know if you will notice a different. Live, maybe. But that’s just because Michael rarely wears pants. [Laughs] He’s here in the truck while I said that. Plus they’re playing music I’ve written, so that makes a difference.

But change is good. We’ve had to go back and relearn old songs with Michael, so we’ve rediscovered songs that we’ve just kind of neglected and it’s inspired us to get off our asses and come up with new songs or a new live schtick that we haven’t done in quite a long time. So it’s benefitted us.

SSv: What older songs are you keen on now that you weren’t the first time around?

Kevin: There’s a song called “Rolling” off of Closer. We might do “Still Life With Cooley” off of Friction, Baby. And we’re going to start doing “Get You In” again. We’re actually going to re-release the Closer album this fall since it’s out of print with two bonus tracks, so we’ve been listening to those songs again since we need to master it and approve it. Then you realize, ‘Oh my God, we gotta do those songs again.’

SSv: That always felt like the album that never was properly noticed in your catalog.

Kevin: Oh, yeah, the label went bankrupt after six months. It was the typical label thing that you hear about. But you know, the album still sold well – a couple hundred thousand. So people do know it. It’s out there. I have people come to me in the business… like last night I was at this awards thing with Taylor Swift and she said, ‘Oh my god, “Get You In” is one of my favorite songs. I’m like, ‘How do you even know about this?’ So you never know who is listening to what. I think sometimes people don’t give the listening public enough credit.

If something is good, people will definitely get to it. With the immediacy of the Internet and the ability to get excited about a song and send it to people, I think good music is still alive and well.

SSv: Seven albums in, what are you writing about now that you couldn’t write before?

Kevin: As you go through life, you get new experiences or see new things in the same experiences. I don’t know if you’ve ever re-read a book as an adult that you read as a kid. I read Love in the Time of Cholera in college and then I read it again five years ago. I’m 40 now, so I read it when I was 35. And I finally got the book. I didn’t get it in college. There are certain things that you can only know after experiencing life and being in a long-term relationship. So I’m still writing about relationships, but it’s the perspective of someone older or about something I never looked at before.

Then again, there are new songs on the album that I had just never written about that subject before. I’d never written about going nightclubbing, so I wrote about that. [Laughs] Or I just wrote a song called “Hell No” just to play before football games at universities and ESPN is going to pick up the song and do this promo with it. There’s always different stuff to write about. And if you continue to listen to new music and replenish the well and getting inspired like when you first started, you’ll start to do things different than what you’ve done before.

SSv: What have you learned about replenishing the well?

Kevin: I always had mentors tell me that you can’t give what you don’t have. That’s why so many artists write their best stuff right when they begin. Then you quit being inspired or you quit listening to new things or you even quit writing because there’s nothing new coming in. So I always listen to new music and I’m just a music fan. You can hear those influences, for better or worse, because we’re always bringing new influences into the band. We’re affected by new music for sure.

SSv: Do you think you’re writing your best stuff now?

Kevin: I do. I mean, I’m having more success than I ever have, writing with others. It just comes really easy at this point. I was listening to Closer and I was thinking, ‘Wow, there are some amazing songs on here.’ Then later on, you realize that there are some songs you wouldn’t put on there if I was making it today. So you still look back and see some great songs but there’s also songs that you don’t appreciate. But I’m not going to write a better song than “Just One Day” or “Loveless.” Those are great songs.

SSv: How do you decide which songs stick with Better Than Ezra and what songs to give to others?

Kevin: I have to be able to believe a song if I’m going to sing it. Sometimes when you’re writing for other people, like this song “Madly” I wrote for Tristan Prettyman… well, I would never sing that because it’s coming from the perspective of a girl. But it’s not a song that fits Better Than Ezra. Then there’s a song like “Collide” which, at the time, we didn’t have a label. We were just seeing what the hell we were going to do and I had this young artist Howie Day coming along on Epic Records and they were doing a big push. He helped me finish the song and I knew that he was the vehicle to get that song to where it needed to be. So it comes down a lot of different things.

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Tagged as: New Orleans, Pop, Rock