Better Than Ezra

0:00How you doing today great man? How you doing? Which is a little different here. I came from 80 degree weather today It's okay, it was nice about a week ago and then it starts snowing again and we thought spring was here, but I Gotta go back in that school. All right. Let's start at the beginning guys. We did I Have I'd like 18 hours actually Kevin graduated But you know opportunity knocks and this was you know, I started school in 87 And about 92 we had a really big following and it was just time to make a decision You know and we did that and we ended up getting signed out of South by Southwest 1994 You know, I guess it was the right decision. We're still here. That's a long that's a long career ten years

0:47He was actually when we actually know Shaggy's he's a good friend of a friend of ours So he's come over to his house and there's a few stories about Shaggya Well, I'll just say this that once a friend of mine busted in on the toilet and Basically all you can see were knees up to the ceiling, you know, so yeah I read that you guys made a list of bands that you pretended to open for when you first started We forged our entire bio actually because we moved to Boston the summer of 88 kind of when we were first started the band and Only way to get into all this there were you know, prestigious clubs in Boston where there's a ton of bands You know the Pixies were big there, and then you know, just all kind of bands were huge We just kind of made up a bunch of crap And it worked so you know, we got to play places like the rat and the channel which actually neither one of there anymore

1:37But the Paradise Club which we displayed last week It's kind of fun and you know places like that it was good for us and we were kind of in the develop developmental stage of the band and It worked out well Yeah, I mean I don't get to talk to him about him very much anymore, I mean he was in the band from 88 to 90 and Killed him he killed himself in 90 and so it's you know It's pretty far removed from what the band is now But sure at the time we stopped playing and we didn't know really what to do We weren't sure that we had a record out at the time called surprise was on a like 12 song cassette We weren't really sure if people would be like Glad to hear our music or if it would just make them sad, you know, and it turned out that people really wanted to keep hearing the music

2:27So a couple years later, we got kind of decided well, maybe we would try again And that's kind of we decided to move to LA our original drummer and I did to meet Kevin and Put together two demos which became deluxe You know the first record on lecture 93 and it got big in 95 What do you think the difference was in those two years that got pushed to be we put it out? We put it on 93 on our own We were traveling around in a van basically in the southeast where we already had a pretty large following and At the time we kind of did our everything ourselves we got a UPC code and we were scanning units, you know and the record companies are like who's this band? And the Baton Rouge is selling all these records Like kind of You know knocked in the door for us and then like I said we got signed out of

3:17Stop by Southwest in 1994 we played and then you know electric picked it up late 94 put it out in February 95 is the first single was good and Really radio stations were already playing it even before we had the record deal Yeah, it's a really it's a cool story Good pretty much rolls around the baseline Yeah, it's kind of cool that the bass actually makes the song for the most part. Yeah, you know, I never really thought of it I guess it's just you know, it's four notes. I don't know I don't know I Guess it's one of the hooks of the song certainly there are others Yeah, it's always good though. I guess that your first song beat has a big baseline. That's cool Sure man, but I hadn't heard it in a while All right, here's better Nazra with good on any 8.3 CJIQ better Nazra you just heard better than Azra's

11:41Desperately wanted in before that good now I was reading a review a while back said your poppy melodies and sound helped to find the modern Alternative radio of today bands like matchbox 23rd. I blind semi-sonic. Do you guys realize innovators? Yeah, what we'd sold as many records I don't know, you know, I think we've always had a really strong influence on melodies and meaningful lyrics and then that's really you know the basis of all of our song arranging and writing and If we don't like what we're doing, we're not gonna do it. That's just the way it is Maybe that's the reason why we haven't been quite as successful as some of these other bands because probably our music is not quite as commercial especially like a record you put out like has your garden grow which is Basically a non commercial record

12:28It's just starts off with a French rap. I mean, you know I don't know innovators is a I'll take that that's cool. Yeah That's props, you know, we've been playing a long time Oh absolutely, you know before that we would have to go run a studio and hope we had all the parks worked out the songs were good we didn't have really time to experiment and That's really what how's your garden grow is all about we could go in there and just try something off It didn't work It wasn't a big deal because it wasn't like we were paying $1,500 a day to have, you know Engineering staff and studio time and space and all that so we could just go when we want when it's convenient for everybody

13:18It just so happened that Malcolm Byrne was living in New Orleans at the time He now lives in Kingston, New York He used to be Daniel Landwell's right-hand man and Daniel and why used to own Kingsaway Studio which is up until recently in New Orleans he sold everything and moved to This place in California, I forget what he calls it You know they did the one Nelson record Yeah, so yeah So he was in New Orleans at the time and it just we kind of all clicked and we first met and We're all kind of the same things at that time That's the kind of record we wanted to make I think we needed to make a serious record after having Two successful pop records. We needed to make a record to say hey We're not just gonna go away We're gonna make a record to show you that you know there's more to this band than just pop ditties Is that what Genome Studio puzzle about just forget what you've heard before? Yeah, exactly exactly

14:07It was almost shocking, you know sort of like whoa by the right record You know and then it gives it a one more murder which is probably one of our darker songs Yeah, I love that record and we started playing a few more songs recently from that record like particle I love particle and you might have heard that sound check here. It's one of my favorites. Got a serious string arrangements Speaking which I just watched a soundtrack now you guys have a lot of drum loops a lot of pre-recorded melodies in the background How do you guys pull that off on stage as it petals or what's the deal? We've become that's what we've become innovators at is that we have the ability now to we can play with a loop But we're not tied into an arrangement Because we Travis and I both use Samplers but can stop it at any time and start over if we want to so Lot of times you hear about a band they'll play along with the track and there if something messes up technically or something's not right

14:59It's too bad. We got to keep going where we have the ability to change the arrangement of the fly Petals I have a I don't know if you saw it said a bass petals and it's tied into our sampler I can use it as a loop or can use it as a one-off depending on the song We have them all set up so I can just start over at any time if I need to go back to a course or diverse or whatever Why don't you pick a song any song of any out. What's your particle? We were just talking about that. Yeah There's an 8.3 CJIQ With Matt shaker is what you're listening to you just heard better than Ezra King of New Orleans before that

25:25Particle off the album. How does your garden grow now? We're recording this album you guys chose to switch up instruments a lot in the studio we do Sometimes you do a certain naivete about playing this but you're not used to playing you kind of may do things Not the way you're supposed to so you get a different sound or different feel than somebody who's a accomplished player on that instrument So we just kind of mess around stuff on time We'll sample ourselves and make a loop out of it or sample as a one-off or whatever and why not? I mean, you know, I mean, I'm an okay guitar player, but I'd play You know a lot different than Kevin plays. He plays bass a lot different than I play And occasionally we'll play drums too and it sounds a lot different than the Travis plays, you know Sometimes we've been known to do all kind of stuff like that. We haven't done that in a while

26:17Well, we had just put in a Pro Tools rig at our studio and We wanted to see what it could do kind of and we decided that a lot of fans were asking for songs that probably weren't gonna make You another record. It just weren't I Don't know, they're just old material. We were kind of done with it or whatever we decided I'll watch recording And give it to the fans kind of It turns out it was a really cool record and We sell lots of those records. It's really cool and get it like it shows we can get it online It actually make them out packaged later with the new record It's come along. We got a lot of new songs But before that comes out we have a DVD that's coming out Two shows we filmed at the House of Blues and Orleans last August basically essentially it's a live concert DVD and also has

27:07Documentary the film Stephen did from Chicago a couple years ago. Actually only it's on the closer tour And then it's also packaged with live album So that'll be coming out first And then we have a great estate trip in China You can believe that yeah More special products at some point down the road And then the new record probably come out of that we have a lot of new songs We're just trying to get it all the way we want it. We want to make an untenable record, you know a classic That's it for the backstage past this week I'm Matt Shaker I just want to thank Tom from better than Ezra for being here We're gonna close up the show this week with two tracks from better than Ezra Start things off with a lifetime and then finish the show off with a song that probably all know called at the stars We'll see you next week with Billy talent Graduation day

27:59Got into a car crashed along the way We arrived late to the way stole the earn while they left away And drove to the beach because I knew you'd wanted that way And you were standing on the hood of the car Singing out loud when the sun came up and I know I wasn't right But it felt so good And you're muddin' in mine Like a thought she pulled like a lifetime

28:50Move like one lifetime

29:58And your dad said it's jaw your margin smiled inside And I went to my house and shut my eyes Swear I've time

31:26Maybe extra dough and a shiplier show