- yesterday
It's been 12 years since legendary rock, funk, blues alt-rockers, Spin Doctors dropped a new album. Their first with Capitol Records and a brand-new bassist, Jack Daley, rounding out the four-piece which includes singer-songwriter Chris Barron, guitarist Eric Schenkman, and drummer Aaron Comess. Yep, this pivotal band is back in a big way...with Face Full of Cake , full of fun hooks and the funky sound they're known and loved for. Formed in 1988 in New York City, they burst into the mainstream with their full-length 1991 debut Pocket Full of Kryptonite . The record went on to sell more than ten million copies worldwide with several massive singles including 'Little Miss Can't Be Wrong' and of course, Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten hit 'Two Princes, ' which was the No. 1 Rock radio hit of 1993. Barron and Comess came by the LifeMinute studios to tell us all about it, plus their upcoming summer tour with Blues Traveler and Gin Blossoms. This is a LifeMinute with the Spin Doctors.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hey, I'm Aaron Comus.
00:01And I'm Chris Barron, and we're Spin Doctors.
00:03And you're watching Life Minute TV.
00:10It's been 12 years since legendary rock, funk, blues, alt-rocker Spin Doctors dropped a new album.
00:16Their first with Capitol Records and a brand new bassist.
00:20Yet this pivotal four-piece band is back in a big way with face full of cakes,
00:25full of fun hooks and the funky sound they're known and loved for.
00:30Formed in 88 in New York City, they burst into the mainstream with their full-length 91 debut pocket full of kryptonite,
00:38selling more than 10 million copies worldwide, with several massive singles that are ubiquitous to this day.
00:48Singer-songwriter Chris Barron and drummer Aaron Comus came by the Life Minute Studios to tell us all about it.
00:55Plus, their upcoming summer tour with Blues Traveler and Jim Blossoms.
01:00This is a Life Minute with the Spin Doctors.
01:03Spin Doctors in the house!
01:05Yes!
01:05Thanks for joining us on Life Minute.
01:07So happy to have you back.
01:08Thanks for having us. This is so fun.
01:10We're having a ball already.
01:11We had fun before we started.
01:12Yeah.
01:14Yeah, we're...
01:14What do the young people say?
01:16We were, like, dishing tea or whatever.
01:18Got all those good cookies that we didn't need.
01:20Smellsy.
01:20All right, face full of cake. Gosh, your first album in 12 years, is it?
01:26Yep.
01:26Wow, what took so long?
01:28Yeah, Aaron, what took so long?
01:29Why do we even do it?
01:30We like to take our time, you know?
01:32You know, we've just been busy playing a lot of concerts, and it just took a while to sort of get us all together in a room, writing together again.
01:39You know, I think if you look at our... Historically through our career, we're a very prolific band, but we have little periods where we end up getting together, writing a lot of songs together.
01:49Like, in the beginning of the band, it was just, you know, when we were forming and getting all our stuff together, we probably had, like, 50 songs, you know, the first couple years.
01:58And then, like, the best of those sort of went on the record, first couple records, and it's just been... We've been busy, you know?
02:04And... But we did get together, like, right around the pandemic. I think that was sort of the thing that got us inspired, you know, once things sort of cleared up a little bit, and it was okay to get back together, we started doing some writing sessions.
02:16We, you know, split up in different groups. Eric and Chris got together, me and Chris got together, the three of us got together.
02:21And then I got together with myself alone.
02:23We got together with myself, you know?
02:25And we ended up with just a bunch of really good songs.
02:28So we decided to go in the studio. Jack Daly, who's our new bass player, has a great studio in Asbury Park.
02:32And the idea was just to go record some demos, just to get them down and see what we got.
02:37And because of that, it was just a really relaxed environment, and it just went great.
02:42And a couple days into it, we were like, wow, you know, this sounds amazing.
02:46I think this is it. I think we're making our record here.
02:48And that was it. A couple weeks later, we had a record.
02:50It was great. It sounds awesome.
02:52It sounds like you guys, but maybe heavier, or, you know?
02:57Yeah.
02:57It's excellent. It's very good.
02:58Cool. Thank you.
02:59I hope your viewers will check it out.
03:04Can I talk into that camera?
03:07Listen, if you check out our record and you don't like it, you come and find Aaron, and he will give you your money back.
03:13You know, we've been working together for 35 years.
03:20And when somebody is that ubiquitous in your life, you just kind of tend to, I guess, take them for granted a little bit, you know?
03:28And during lockdown, you know, I hadn't gone 18 months without seeing these guys in forever, you know?
03:35And so, for me, it was like, we got out of lockdown, and it was like, you know, let's make a record.
03:43Let's get together.
03:44Let's do some writing.
03:45Like, life is short.
03:46You never know, like, what's going to happen.
03:48It was one of the big revelations for me.
03:50How does it work for you guys creatively?
03:52What's the process like?
03:53Do you write the lyrics first?
03:55As a songwriter, I'm really lucky.
03:58You know, on this particular album, I wrote the music and lyrics for, like, four or five of the songs.
04:03Aaron wrote the, composed the music, and I wrote the lyrics.
04:06I write the lyrics, right, basically.
04:07And so, Eric wrote the music on some, you know, like, several of the songs, too.
04:13So, I'm really lucky because I can sit down and I can write a song and hand it off to these guys,
04:19and they'll, like, take my song and turn it into, like, a killer Spin Doctor song.
04:23Or I can just sit around and write lyrics and not worry about music at all and know that Aaron is a brilliant composer.
04:31I'm sure a lot of your favorite songs Aaron composed the music to.
04:36And so, I can, you know, we get together, and I'm just, like, he'll play me something, and I'll be like,
04:41I think I got something for that, and I'll, like, put lyrics to it and a melody.
04:45And same with Eric, you know.
04:48It's a little different with Aaron and Eric.
04:50When I get together with Aaron, he usually, Aaron's, like, musical pieces are often characterized by really odd time signatures and rhythmically.
04:59So, he sort of has to teach me the music of it because a lot of times I'm like, wait, where does it start?
05:05And Aaron has to kind of, like, show me, like, how it all works.
05:09And then I'm kind of, like, finding my way through it.
05:11Whereas Eric is just like, what do you got?
05:13And I'm like, how about this?
05:14And I just start singing, and Eric will instantaneously be able to accompany what I'm doing and just come up with music for it, like, on the spot.
05:23So, it's...
05:24But it's cool.
05:24I think one of the things that makes our records diverse, there's different styles of music that all make the Spin Doctors.
05:31And that's because of what Chris just said, because everybody contributes a certain amount.
05:35If it was all Chris's songs, that'd be great, but it'd be, you know, it's just there's more type, different types of styles that are thrown into the pot because...
05:43And I really appreciate him.
05:44I'm the drummer in the band, you know.
05:46So, it's like, usually drummers won't get to write songs, but I play guitar and write music.
05:51So, I really appreciate that Chris has been, you know, really into collaborating with me.
05:55And Eric, too, as the guitar player, for me to hand off something I wrote on guitar to him.
06:00And me and Eric also get together and do stuff and then bring it in.
06:03So, it's just all those combinations, you know.
06:05And over the years, sometimes we'll just write songs.
06:07A lot of our songs, especially in the early days, were just written on stage because we'd jam out and improvise a lot on stage.
06:14And particularly in the old days, we would play, like, you know, four-hour shows.
06:17We'd do, like, three sets.
06:18So, sometimes the third set, we would just be up there messing around.
06:21And, like, a lot of songs got written that way.
06:23Wow, really?
06:24Yeah.
06:24Yeah, like, on our first record, the song, What Time Is It, just spontaneously came together.
06:30What time is it?
06:33What time is it?
06:374.30, it's not late, it's early.
06:38And it was 4.30 in the morning.
06:41And I, like, turned to our friend Darren Green, who was like, what time is it?
06:45And he was like, 4.30.
06:46And then Eric just started playing this thing.
06:47And I was like, what time is it?
06:494.30.
06:50It's not late.
06:52It's early.
06:53And that's, like, that's how that song came together, just, like, spontaneously.
06:55Yeah, I mean, Chris has always had an amazing ability to just improvise lyrics on the spot.
07:02So we were able to do that.
07:03And same thing with the writing.
07:04Like, sometimes I know stuff we've written.
07:06I mean, sometimes, usually I come in with a pretty complete piece of music, you know.
07:10And Chris, there's been a lot of times where he'd just come up with lyrics right there.
07:14He might ask me, are you thinking about anything when you wrote this?
07:17But a lot of times, or sometimes he'll go into his book and find something he's already written that fits, you know.
07:22But, I mean, he has an amazing ability to just write right on the spot.
07:27And almost every time we've gotten together, when the time was right, there's certainly been periods where the vibe just wasn't there, you know.
07:33But, like, this last period and a lot of different periods over the years, I mean, we always come out with a song, you know.
07:40I've never been, only a few times has it been like, all right, well, you know, we always come out with a completed song, you know.
07:45So, and I figured out this time, to get him over, I just have to offer to make him dinner after.
07:50We, we, we, one of the big sessions that we did where we wrote Still a Gorilla from this new record.
07:59I'm holding the moon over me.
08:08I'm sort of lazy, you know, so Aaron was like, all right, let's get together and write.
08:12And I was like, cool, what do you want to do?
08:13He was like, what do you want to do?
08:14I was like, why don't you come over to my house?
08:16And he was like, okay, great.
08:17Because Aaron's super easygoing and probably the coolest guy in the band.
08:21And, like, the night before or that morning?
08:23That morning, I call Aaron and I was like, hey, how about I come over to your house and we write.
08:28And then Lindsay will come over later, my wife, and you guys can make us dinner.
08:32And he was like, sure, man.
08:34And so we just, we just went over.
08:36We, you know, we went over.
08:37We wrote a couple of songs.
08:38Lindsay showed up around six.
08:39We, like, had a martini and a steak.
08:41And three hours later, we had two songs and we were eating.
08:45What did you make?
08:47What did I make that night?
08:47You made a killer steak.
08:49You made a steak and you made, like, a tuna tartare with, like, avocado in it.
08:54It was, like, gorgeous.
08:55And then we had, like, martinis and a great bottle of wine.
08:59And then I took me at some scotch.
09:00So that's how I do it now.
09:01So then, like, about a month later, I was like, hey, come on over.
09:03Come on over.
09:04I'll make you dinner.
09:04It's like the reward, you know?
09:06You write a good song, you get a dinner.
09:07But I think if I was watching this show right now, I'd be like, okay, Spin Doctors, this
09:10guy's been around forever.
09:12Bands, like, their early stuff is always the best stuff.
09:15You know, why should I check out this record?
09:18You know, it's probably just going to be some, like, rehashed, like, whatever stuff.
09:24We have been committed always to getting better as musicians and getting better as writers.
09:32One of the reasons that that happens, you continuously hear people saying, like, oh,
09:37I like the early stuff, but they don't like the later stuff as much, is I think that when
09:42you're early, especially if you have a little success, you start to try and, like, repeat
09:46that success.
09:47And the trick is sort of understanding what's good about your style and your personality
09:53as a writer and keeping that in there, but also continually honing your skills.
10:00And, you know, we've tried really hard.
10:02Aaron's always practicing the drums.
10:05He's always, like, working on new ideas musically.
10:07You don't want to keep trying to do the same thing that pleased people 30 years ago when you
10:12were young.
10:12You want to kind of, you know, hone in and pursue your personality and the things that
10:18were good about what you did, but not, like, do the same trick over and over and over again.
10:23Yeah.
10:24I mean, we've always had our best results when you just, when you don't think about it.
10:28I mean, I think really that's the trick to most art is, like, just be yourself.
10:32You know, anytime you're trying to sort of repeat something you did or trying to be like
10:36somebody else that you think is popular, it's always a mistake.
10:40I mean, when we came out, you know, at the time, it was, it's not like we were reinventing
10:44the wheel, but there wasn't a lot of stuff that really sounded like us.
10:47And, you know, the record company didn't really know what to do with us.
10:50You know, they were like, you guys need some tattoos.
10:52You need, you have no image, you know, and you have no singles.
10:55It didn't, you know, and we had something unique just by being ourselves, you know, and
11:00that's really the same thing now, you know, don't think about it, just do what you do.
11:04And I think we were able to really do that on this record.
11:07You know, we really were.
11:08And it feels really good.
11:08And it's really helped our live show.
11:11It's nice to have a bunch of new material to play live.
11:13It goes over really well.
11:15And, you know, we don't, it's not like we're slamming it down our throats.
11:17I mean, people come out and see us, they're going to hear everything they want to hear.
11:20But you sort of figure out what, what songs really work.
11:23And to me, like the mark of a successful song or successful record is if we can, if two
11:28or three songs, like if we're sitting here in three years and two or three songs from
11:31this record, we're still playing live.
11:33That to me, that's like success.
11:35And there's like a couple of songs, when we go back to all our other records, like Nice
11:39Talking to Me, you know, there's a couple of songs from that, like Margarita and Nice
11:43Talking to Me and Sugar, you know, that stand out.
11:46And, but, you know, you have to think about your, the people that come to see you too,
11:51you know, and not be self-envolved.
11:53Yeah, and if, you know, if you come and see a Spin Doctor show, we're going to play Little
11:57Miss Can't Be Wrong, we're going to play Two Princes.
12:00Like we always, we always play the hits.
12:02I mean, I, I did a solo show like years ago and I didn't play Two Princes and somebody
12:06came up to me afterwards and they were like, I drove 10 hours to hear that song.
12:09And I was like, okay, cool.
12:11You know what?
12:12Just going to, just going to do that.
12:13Like, and I mean, we like playing those songs too.
12:15Yeah, I mean, people come to expect them, you know.
12:16It's not like we're like, oh, you have to play the hit again.
12:18People always say, do you get tired of playing the hits?
12:20And we're like, ah, sorry, do I get tired of playing a song I wrote and watching people
12:26go nuts?
12:26Like, no, we don't get tired of that.
12:28You want to get a reaction out of an audience, you know?
12:31So we're lucky to have those songs.
12:33They've kept us going all these years.
12:35And we're lucky to have this new record.
12:36I mean, like a song like Gorilla, it's one of those songs off the new record that, I mean,
12:40we've been playing it live for a couple of years now before we put it out.
12:43And it just slays every night, you know?
12:45So to have something like that that's new and you just see the, to have it just work
12:49so well, it's like a gift, you know?
12:51Yeah.
12:51And it's a pop, it's a, to go back to like what we were talking about earlier, it's an
12:55opportunity to kind of triangulate what you're doing and people can see the connection of
12:59this like heavy song to the poppy stuff and how it's the same band and how all these things
13:04kind of come together and basically, you know, I think one of the great things about this
13:11band and one of the things I'd like to sort of expand on is that we're known for these
13:16two very poppy songs, but we really, I mean, honestly, like, I think we have like a huge
13:22trove of absolutely unbelievable material.
13:27People think they're going to come out and see a Spin Doctor show and they're just going
13:30to like hang out for these two songs, but we don't, we don't have any bad songs.
13:34We don't play bad songs.
13:36We're, you know, the band is, and if, again, if you come out to a show and you don't think
13:42our songs are any good, just find Aaron and he'll give you your money back.
13:46No, I'll give you your money back.
13:48But your tour with Gin Blossoms and Blues Traveler.
13:51Yeah.
13:51Okay.
13:52You used to be in Blues Traveler.
13:54I was in an early incarnation of Blues Traveler before it was called Blues Traveler.
13:58Yes, John Popper and I went to high school together.
14:00And let me tell you, that guy played like that in high school.
14:05It was amazing going to high school being like, you know, 15 years old.
14:10He was 16 and actually meeting somebody and knowing somebody who you absolutely knew for
14:16certain was going to be extremely famous.
14:19It was, it was really cool.
14:21And it kind of like for, for me as a guy who was like, maybe I'll join the Navy or I mean,
14:27like sort of like didn't know how I was going to like get through life because I did really
14:30badly in school, you know, but knowing a guy like John, it kind of busted your, the horizons
14:37of what you thought was possible for a person that you knew or yourself to do, you know.
14:44So it's going to be really fun being out with those guys because I, I went to high school
14:48with all those guys and weren't just going to be like trooping around on buses.
14:51And we've toured a lot with both of them.
14:52We've done a lot of touring with Gin Blossoms.
14:54A lot of touring with Blues Traveler, you know, as Chris said, he grew up with them.
14:58And we both come from New York City.
15:00So we've known the Gin Blossoms for over 30 years now too.
15:04So, you know, it's going to be, it's going to be great.
15:06Three bands of like old buddies out on the road, throwing down.
15:11We'll definitely be sitting in on each other's sets and there'll be like guest appearances.
15:17And we just went out to Rob and the Center for Gin Blossoms Studio yesterday and did like
15:21a collaboration.
15:22We did a song together and we're going to, you know, so that'll be like out on Instagram
15:25probably.
15:26Just like a little, but it's going to be, there's going to be a lot of good times.
15:28It's going to be fun.
15:28And I think the people who come out are going to really enjoy it.
15:31And it's sold, it's some of the shows are sold out too.
15:34It's selling well.
15:35So like, get your tickets.
15:36Go get your tickets.
15:37Awesome.
15:38And where else are you going to be hitting?
15:40A couple big festivals too.
15:42Yes.
15:43Yeah, we're doing a bunch of them.
15:44We just did Boston Calling, which was great.
15:47We're doing Bourbon and Beyond.
15:48We're doing, what's the other one we're doing?
15:51Ocean's Calling.
15:51Ocean's Calling.
15:52Yes, Ocean's Calling.
15:53And then we have a bunch of our own headlining shows outside of this.
15:56We're going to play the whole new record, Face Full of Cake, and it's
15:58entirety.
15:59Why that title, Face Full of Cake?
16:02Well, you know, it's funny.
16:03Every record we've ever made, for the most part, we've always had a title, a working
16:08title, and then it changes.
16:10And we end up with like 10 titles.
16:12Yeah, that's it.
16:12That's it.
16:12Now, maybe then.
16:13So this one originally, right after we recorded it, we were going to call it Rock
16:16and Roll Heaven.
16:17That was like the working title for the longest time.
16:19And then we just decided to call it Boombox.
16:22But then we realized there's like a million records called Boombox.
16:24Then we were going to call it Gorilla.
16:27And then we weren't sure about that.
16:28And then I called Chris.
16:29I said, do me a favor.
16:30Send me all the lyrics.
16:31I just wanted to read through the lyrics.
16:33Because, you know, sometimes record titles, it's like a line in a song.
16:37Like Pocket Full of Kryptonite is a line in a song.
16:38I always thought Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette was a really great title.
16:42And I'll never forget the first time I never knew why it was called that.
16:46And then when she put out that single, I remember hearing on the radio when she said
16:49the line Jagged Little Pill.
16:50It was just so cool.
16:52So Face Full of Cake is a line, a lyric in the song Double Parts.
17:01Which is a really great, just great set of lyrics.
17:04And it's just sort of a funny, you know, thing, Face Full of Cake.
17:08So it was between that and Gorilla for a long time.
17:11And Gorilla was kind of leading, right, for a long time.
17:13Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:14And then we were out for dinner one night.
17:15And we just asked everybody, like, at the bar and the restaurant, all the people we were
17:18with.
17:18And Face Full of Cake just, like, came out on top.
17:21Because we were sort of like, can we call it Face Full of Cake?
17:25That's so, like, I don't know.
17:26Because we were like, Gorilla, like, seems like really punchy and commercial.
17:30And then Aaron was like, what about Face Full of Cake?
17:33And I was like, I love that, but can we call it that?
17:36And I mentioned it to my wife.
17:37She was like, definitely, yes.
17:39That you should totally call it.
17:40I was like, really?
17:41And then, yeah, we went out to dinner that night.
17:43And we asked everybody.
17:45It's funny.
17:46And it's, we've never taken ourselves seriously.
17:48We're definitely not.
17:48We're very serious about what we do.
17:50But we're not, like, walking around all, like, we're cool.
17:52You know what I mean?
17:53So it's pie in the face.
17:54It's a joke, kind of, you know?
17:56Yeah.
17:56It's like, I think it's really good.
17:57Self-deprecating.
17:58Yeah.
17:58Pocket Full of Kryptonite.
17:59Face Full of Cake.
18:00That's an important point that Aaron made.
18:05Just like, we take what we do seriously.
18:07We take music seriously.
18:09We take the fact that people bought a ticket to our show.
18:12And we're, like, sober and ready to play and prepared.
18:16Incidentally, there's no, you know, computerized anything at our shows.
18:20There's no playback.
18:21There's no pitch correction.
18:24You come out and see a Spin Doctor show, you're going to watch four people playing the music that you are hearing.
18:30We take what we do seriously, but we don't take ourselves seriously.
18:34Seriously, we're happy, I'm certainly happy to be, like, an object of ridicule and that goofy guy in the hat, you know, from that video long ago.
18:44I don't mind being, like, that funny guy from the Spin Doctors.
18:47But, you know, the truth is, like, that's fine and everything, but, like, you know, I can sing, he can play.
18:54You know, the other guys are, they're three of the best musicians of their era, hands down.
19:00And Face Full of Cake, man.
19:02Pocket Full of Kryptonite, Face Full of Cake.
19:03And it did seem like kind of a quip sort of answer to Pocket Full of Kryptonite, too.
19:09Cool.
19:11Any other favorites besides Gorilla on the new that we want to touch on?
19:14Boombox.
19:19I like Buddha on the lawn.
19:21It's kind of a funny, odd song of this thing.
19:34And I think one of the things that characterizes Spin Doctors songs is we have these songs that are like, why wouldn't anybody write a song about that?
19:41But you love it, you know, and, like, Two Princes is such a weird song.
19:46If one, two princes kneel before you, princes, princes who adore you.
19:50Like, I actually, like, wrote those two lines when I was 19.
19:53I wrote the song when I was 19.
19:55I got to those two lines.
19:56I was like, this is stupid.
19:58And I almost stopped writing the song.
19:59And I was just like, nah, just, like, you know, just finish the song and see what happens.
20:03And half an hour later, I had ensured that I would never have to have a real job again.
20:07I didn't know that at the time.
20:08But the boot on the lawn is a song about, like, in the 70s and there's, like, a dad who's, like, obsessed with lawn ornaments, you know.
20:16But it's just, like, my funny kind of take on a situation like that.
20:19I liked you better when your butt was big.
20:21That's a funny one.
20:22I liked you better when your butt was big.
20:25I liked you better when your butt was big.
20:29That actually was about somebody that I had known.
20:34But it's sort of a combination.
20:35You know, we also have another song called Big Fat Funky Booty.
20:38It's just, like, butts are funny, you know.
20:40Butts, just put a butt in a song and you just, like, you know, if you play your cards right, you're going to have a great song.
20:47But, like, uh.
20:47It's an example of the silly, very silly, stupid side of the band, you know.
20:50Yes.
20:51We were, like, you know, like we were saying before, I mean, we have all these serious songs and we are not afraid to have some just ridiculous songs, which we did.
20:59Yeah.
20:59And it's fun, right?
21:01It is fun.
21:01Yeah.
21:01I don't know who that song's about, though.
21:03Well, I'll tell you later.
21:04Yeah, tell me later.
21:05I'll tell you later.
21:06I don't know.
21:07I'll tell you later.
21:08Rock and Roll Heaven, I think, is kind of a cool song.
21:11It's, you know, a vision of a rock and roll afterlife.
21:24And if you listen to the lyrics, there's some, like, it's really kind of a funny comment on the difficulties of being a musician.
21:32And, of course, in this vision of a rock and roll heaven, all these problems are solved.
21:36But, you know, it's like there's breakfast all day in every town and every seat in the van goes down and the promoter's got a pizza and all your bread and every zeppelin is made of lead.
21:47And, you know, it's just like, you know, it goes through all these things that musicians sort of deal with on a day-to-day basis.
21:53But the guitar strings all change themselves.
21:55And part of songwriting, people will say to me, like, oh, that would make a great song.
21:59You should write that.
22:00And I'll say, you should write that because it's not a good idea for a song, you know.
22:03It's taken me a lifetime to sort of, like, have an instinct of, like, what, if you go through my notebooks, you can see, like, my early stuff.
22:10You can see me, like, kind of tracing down a song idea.
22:13And you're like, hmm, that could have worked out.
22:15But I can see why, like, that was abandoned.
22:18But now I'm like, you know, at this point in my career, like, one of the things, you know, you get really good at is, like, knowing when you have, you go down to Nashville and you, like, go into a songwriting session.
22:27And you sit down with these seasoned writers.
22:30And you just sit there and you just, like, chat.
22:32And eventually you can feel the conversation, like, moving towards a song idea.
22:36And eventually, you know, these great Nashville writers, they'll be like, oh, there's a song in that.
22:41So is there a book somewhere with all your gems that you haven't done anything with?
22:45I have, like, three shelves, you know, that are full of, like, notebooks that I've filled.
22:55Did you, were you self-taught?
22:56Did you always know you could play?
22:58I'm not self-taught.
22:59I mean, I've been interested in music since I was really young.
23:02Started playing classical piano.
23:04And when I was nine, I told my parents I wanted to take drum lessons.
23:08So they found this guy named Jack Iden that turned out to be an amazing drum teacher.
23:12And I've studied all through, like, all through, you know, school and high school.
23:16I had private lessons.
23:17And I went to a performing arts high school.
23:19And then I, you know, went to Berklee for a year.
23:22And then I went to a new school where I met these guys.
23:24So I consider myself, like, somewhat natural.
23:27Like, it's never been hard for me.
23:28But I put in a lot of work and a lot of study.
23:30And I've had a lot of teaching.
23:32So, yes, I'm not.
23:33And tons of practice.
23:35Yeah, I practice very.
23:35He's a practicing fiend.
23:37I put in, I put in, they say you're supposed to put in 10,000 hours of anything before you're
23:41really ready for prime time.
23:43And I definitely, by the time I met these guys, I'd put in my 10,000.
23:46Easily.
23:46For sure.
23:47Regardless of whether you're self-taught or you take, or you're studying or whatever it is,
23:52you need to put in the time.
23:53There's no way around that, for sure.
23:55What about you, Chris?
23:56I'm a mixture.
23:57I sang in choir in high school.
24:00And I took, like, music theory.
24:01And I can't really read music, but I can decipher music.
24:05As a lyricist, my brother who passed away last year, he was something of a genius.
24:11And he was sort of like a literature professor for me.
24:16And I'm dyslexic, so it's really hard for me to read.
24:19But really, the upshoot of me being dyslexic is it's, like, just as hard for me to read,
24:25like, Romeo and Juliet as it is for me to read, like, a Michael Crichton beach novel.
24:32So I've just always gravitated towards this kind of, like, heavy literature.
24:35So my brother kind of, like, my brother kind of guided me through a lot of literature.
24:40My brother was, like, also very, very brilliant.
24:43And just, he was a mathematician, but he knew a lot of literature.
24:46And he would just be like, okay, now you need to read, you know, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow.
24:51Now you need to read, like, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist of the Young Man.
24:54He would just, like, get me to read stuff.
24:57I think I'm kind of unusual for a rock and roll lyricist.
25:00I didn't go to school for literature, but I think my brother was even better
25:05because I could go to him and ask him questions about stuff.
25:08And my brother wasn't the kind of guy who would just regurgitate stuff.
25:11He would give you this fully synthesized and educated take on whatever it was you were asking him about.
25:18So I kind of got lucky.
25:20It was like, you know, my brother's a genius autodidact and self-taught, you know, genius.
25:25And I was, you know, like the dyslexic, you know, big brother who would be, like, just reading everything that he told me to read.
25:34So, you know, I'm sort of a mixture of self-taught and highly trained.
25:42New bassist. How is that going?
25:44Yeah, we have a new bassist, Jack Daly, who's amazing.
25:47You know, I've known Jack for a long time, and before he joined us, you know, I'd played with him in a lot of other different musical situations.
25:55So he was a real easy fit.
25:57You know, Chris knew him as well.
25:58They used to live in the Red Square apartment building together.
26:01Jack's played with a ton of people.
26:03He played in Lenny Kravitz's band for a long time, for like 15 years from, like, the 90s.
26:07You know, he played, he's a member of Little Stevens' band.
26:11He even filled in on Saturday Night Live with Bruce Springsteen when their bass player couldn't make it during COVID.
26:15So he has a really long discography, and he's just a super cool guy.
26:20And, you know, it's hard, I mean, to change members.
26:22It can go either way, you know, because we've always been in a band where everybody, you know, had a real big part of the sound.
26:27Mark, our original bass player, is a great bass player and a huge contributor to our sound.
26:33So it's hard to replace that.
26:34And Jack came in, and, you know, we told him, I mean, like, just do your thing.
26:38It's not about trying to sound like, you know, you've got your own sound.
26:41And he's great at sort of respecting the parts that are important to a song.
26:45But making him his own.
26:46And he's been great.
26:48And it's cool that we were able to record a record with him so quickly and have new songs that he was part of to take out on the road.
26:56It just made it feel, you know, really authentic from the get-go.
26:58So Jack's great.
27:00We're really lucky to have him.
27:01He and I lived in a kind of legendary apartment building called Red Square in Alphabet City in the 90s.
27:08And he was in Lenny Kravitz's band.
27:11And I was, you know, the guy from the Spin Doctors.
27:13We would see each other in the elevator in the morning.
27:15And we were, like, chatting kind of friends, you know.
27:18And he would be in the elevator.
27:20And he'd be wearing, like, a bone breastplate, sort of Native American thing.
27:25And, like, these leather pants that went up the side.
27:28And, like, you know, cowboy boots with long and, like, turquoise everywhere.
27:32And just, like, put together, you know.
27:35And just, like, you know, just like a rail.
27:37And I'd have just, like, woken up and done, like, nine bong hits.
27:40And it'd be, like, you know, nine in the morning.
27:42I'd be, like, super stoned.
27:43And I don't do anything anymore.
27:44But, you know, and I'd be, like, there'd be, like, you know, ink spots from writing with fountain pen on my fingers.
27:50And maybe an ink spot on my nose.
27:52And I was wearing torn up jeans and, like, an old T-shirt.
27:55We'd just be, like, looking at each other, like, across the elevator.
27:59And I was, like, I always thought, like, this guy is so cool.
28:04And we would, like, chat and talk.
28:06And we were definitely, like, really friendly.
28:07And when he got back in the band, I told him that story.
28:09And he was, like, yeah, man, I was looking at you going, like, who is this guy?
28:12He's so cool as well.
28:14Second, like, we stood on stage together at Soundcheck.
28:17All of those great memories came flooding back.
28:19And then we just played, like, Soundcheck.
28:21And by the end of Soundcheck, I was, like, this guy is the greatest.
28:24So, you know, we're really lucky.
28:25As Aaron said, it doesn't always work out.
28:27Especially with a quartet and you're changing somebody.
28:31But Jack is just, we're really lucky to have him.
28:34I mean, the guy's a huge rock star.
28:35The people that he's played with and stuff like that.
28:38And also we just love him.
28:41He's such a great, great guy.
28:43What do you guys like to do when you're not working?
28:46Aaron's a fantastic cook.
28:47I enjoy cooking, yeah.
28:48And your food looks good, too.
28:51Yeah, I have an aesthetic.
28:52I like, you know, it's going to taste good, most importantly.
28:55But I love the whole thing.
28:56I like if I have a day off, like, going to the store, going to, you know, seeing what looks
29:00good that day and, you know, putting in a meal together and going home, prepping it,
29:04cooking it, shaking up a nice martini, sending these guys a picture.
29:08Yeah, yeah, we love it.
29:09Beautiful meal.
29:10We all take pictures of our dinners.
29:11And, like, you know, I'm like, mm, that looks tasty.
29:13You know, mine's like, mm, yum.
29:14And, like, you know, Eric is like, mm, yeah, that looks yummy.
29:17And Aaron's just like, oh, well, I want to go to that restaurant, you know.
29:21I recently, when I was a kid, my grandfather taught me about film photography.
29:25So, last year, when I was feeling, you know, really sad about losing my brother, I was
29:31at a flea market and I saw a camera on a table and I bought the camera.
29:36And so, I got back into film photography and I've been taking classes down at the International
29:42Center of Photography and learning how to develop negatives and make prints and stuff
29:49like that.
29:50So.
29:50And you guys are New York icons.
29:52What do you love about New York?
29:53What do you do in New York?
29:54What are your favorite things here?
29:55Oh, man, New York's the best.
29:55I mean, we've been living here since the band formed, you know.
29:58Yeah.
29:59And most people, you know, it's a tough city to stay in.
30:01I mean, you know, a lot of people, most people come in for a while and move out and that's
30:04all good.
30:05And, you know, Eric moved back to Toronto.
30:08Jack lives down in Asbury Park.
30:09Me and Chris, we've just stayed here.
30:11I just love it.
30:11I mean, it's like, you know, we've traveled all over the world.
30:13There's some amazing cities.
30:14But I think New York's just my favorite, you know.
30:17Me too.
30:17I just love the people here are so great.
30:20You know, there's just so much to do.
30:21Great food town, beautiful architecture, you know, just the vibe.
30:26And for a musician, it's really one of the best places to be.
30:28I mean, I love to play music with people around the city and do stuff.
30:31And, you know, I mean, I moved here basically because I wanted to be, you know, I wanted
30:36to have a career in music.
30:37But I also wanted to be around the best musicians in the world because I figured that was going
30:41to make me better, you know.
30:42And I still feel that to this day, you know, it's like, it keeps you, you can't, you can't
30:47just sort of rest on your laurels in a town like New York.
30:50Yeah.
30:50You got to stay sharp because there's all our friends our age are great.
30:54And there's all these young people that are just incredible.
30:56And then there's the people generation ahead of us, you know.
30:59So it's like, we're sort of right in the middle now.
31:01It's kind of a really cool, it's kind of an inspiring time because, you know, I can get
31:06inspiration from all these great young, you know, musicians.
31:08Of course, all the older ones that are still around and then all our people our own age.
31:13So that's why I came here.
31:15That's why, that's really what keeps me here, to be honest.
31:17There's also, you know, theater here too.
31:20My wife's a musical theater actress, Lindsay Nicole Chambers, and she's like a comedic genius,
31:26you know, as well as being here for my music.
31:29It's like my wife as a theater actress.
31:32I just love, love theater.
31:34If you're watching this from out of town, you got to come to New York and see a show.
31:37If you come to New York, people always are like, oh, I'm going to New York.
31:40I'm like, are you going to go see a show?
31:41And usually they are, but if they're not, I'm like, you got to go and see, got to go
31:44and see a show.
31:45It's like one of those things that, you know, it's like going to Orlando and not going to
31:48Disney World, you know.
31:50Yeah.
31:50New York has so much personality.
31:52When I was, when I was a kid, like middle school and high school, I lived in Princeton,
31:56New Jersey, where the Blues Traveler are from, and John Lithgow and some other like really
32:02famous, cool, Bibi Neuwirth went to the same middle school as, as me.
32:07And there was like this, this abandoned, like observation tower way out in these like corn
32:14fields.
32:15We used to drive like a half an hour to get to this observation tower, which had like
32:19all these like signs, like stay off of it.
32:20It was like falling apart.
32:22And we were like climb, you know, 150 feet up this thing.
32:26We could have like fallen down and like killed ourselves.
32:28And we would sit up there and we would like, you know, smoke cigarettes.
32:31And you could see New York City, like way off in the distance.
32:35It was like, you know, 50 miles away or something like that.
32:37And on a clear day, you could see New York.
32:39And we would like look at New York from this observation tower.
32:41It was like the size of your thumbnail.
32:43Like it looked like Oz, like off in the distance.
32:45And we would just sit there and be like, you know, someday we're going to, someday we're
32:49going to like live there and like be cool guys.
32:52It's just like whatever we're going to do, make some music and you did it.
32:57Yeah.
32:58What does music do for people?
33:00Music is a service and a science and an art.
33:05It's the mother of poetry and the daughter of life itself.
33:11It's absolutely primeval.
33:14There's not a single culture on earth that doesn't have some form of music.
33:19Like, you know, I feel really lucky that we get to do this for a living because you just
33:27look out at the crowd when you're playing and it is connecting with people on so many
33:34different levels.
33:35People who just don't know anything about your music are just responding to it on a
33:39fundamentally human level.
33:42And then you've got people who are there to like hear specific songs and you're like
33:47evoking these memories for them.
33:50One of the most gratifying things about, about being in this band these days is like you
33:54look out and the whole front row is like little kids, like seven year olds to like 20 year
34:01olds.
34:01And they just got their like, you know, little chins on the, on the barrier and they're like
34:06kind of mesmerized by, by what we're doing.
34:09I think that goes back to the fact that, you know, there's, there's nothing automated about
34:12what we're doing.
34:13It's completely, you know, that's kind of a, that's sort of a spectacle now watching
34:18people, you know, actually just perform music in a, in a prodigious, prolific kind of way.
34:25It's fun watching, you know, like young people and they're sort of, sort of like there with
34:29their parents and it's sort of like that thing happens where they're like, oh, well, you know,
34:34like dad loves his band and mom loves his band and they're sort of like, oh wow.
34:41You know, and, and before we ever play the hit and then we play the hit and then they
34:44go, they, then they turn, you know, to their parents and like connect, you know, this is
34:50the song we play in the car, you know, and it's, it's, yeah, it's a beautiful way.
34:55I like it when you see, like sometimes you'll see like the cool young kid that doesn't want
34:58to like us, you know, they're like, but then like halfway through the show, they're
35:02like, you got them, you know what I mean?
35:04Yeah, yeah, yeah.
35:05It is fun though, like to see all the different ages of people that come out to see this,
35:09the band now, you know, and that's, that's very cool.
35:12We somehow struck a very universal thing.
35:15Two Princes and Little Miss Can't Be Wrong and the album Pocket Full of Kryptonite.
35:20Again and again, I've heard people say when I was a kid, you know, I didn't want to listen
35:25to like my parents' stuff and my parents didn't want to listen to the grunge stuff that,
35:31that I was into, but we could put the Spin Doctors on.
35:34That was like the tape that we could listen to in the car and everybody, like our parents
35:37and, and us, like we all like agreed, like that's what we wanted to listen to.
35:41And I honestly, like, I'm not really sure how we did that.
35:45Probably the drumming.
35:46Probably has a lot to do with the fantastic drumming.
35:49Somehow we have this kind of like ageless, timeless sort of appeal for people.
35:55And that's, you know, just really, we got lucky there, I think.
35:59And I think, I think the music lives on, you know, if you look at the kind of songs that
36:02seem to live on and stand the test of time, it's stuff that's not overly produced or overly
36:08like sonically to a certain generation, like certain things just, you can tell like this
36:13is from that.
36:13I mean, obviously people hear us and it, it takes them back to the nineties, but it's just
36:17like a, the music is just sort of organic rock and roll.
36:20Yeah.
36:21And it, you know, and we got lucky and recorded like really good versions of those songs and
36:25they still sound great on the radio, you know, there's no gimmicks.
36:28And, you know, so it's, I mean, it's, it's, we don't really, we didn't really expect that
36:32to be honest.
36:32I mean, you know, even when you have a big hit, you don't expect that, but you really
36:36don't expect it to sort of have the lasting power that these songs have had.
36:40Yeah.
36:40I mean, we certainly weren't trying to have a hit record.
36:43I mean, we honestly, like I can tell you a hundred percent that was not in our mind.
36:47Like we really just, when we went to make that first record, we just, we really wanted
36:52to make a great record.
36:53I mean, that was really the only thing that was important to us.
36:55Nobody was thinking about like that we're going to have like this big hit.
36:58It wasn't until later that, that, you know, that, that became even a possibility.
37:02And only after the record company told us to get off the road and go home and make another
37:06record because there were no hits on the record.
37:08And at that point, you know, we had been on the road for about a year and a half and we'd
37:12seen like some of these songs become real popular within our fan base, you know?
37:16So, and I remember being in this meeting, we were all sitting around with all the heads
37:19of, uh, of Epic Records, whole band, our management.
37:23And we were just like, why don't you try like a song, like maybe Two Princes or Jimmy Olsen
37:27or Little Miss?
37:28They seem to really, you know, you come to our show, people are singing along, you know?
37:32No, no, you guys need to come home, make a new record, get off the road.
37:36And so, uh, we, afterwards, we sat outside of Sony Music just down the street over there.
37:41And our manager is like, you know, I'm telling you guys, it's, something's going to happen.
37:46You know, let's just go back on the road.
37:47I've seen this before.
37:48It's, we're feeling it.
37:49We're feeling a buzz.
37:50And we did that.
37:51And like a few months later, a station up in Vermont, WEQX, Jim McGuinn was the DJ
37:56there, started playing Little Miss.
37:58It went to number one.
37:59He wrote a letter to the president of Epic, Richard Griffiths, and that lit the fire.
38:04And then the thing blew up.
38:05So then we knew, okay, maybe we're going to have some hits, but we were not thinking
38:08about that at all in the process of making that record.
38:12We put two princes out and everybody at radio and, and, and some people at the label were
38:16just like, what is this supposed to be?
38:18You know, they're like, it's not rock and roll.
38:20It's not like R and B.
38:21It's like nothing.
38:22It's just like this thing in like the middle of like, you know, limbo because, you know,
38:26it didn't really fit into a category.
38:29But, you know, those are the kinds of things that if you, if they do get a chance, those are
38:33things that really kind of take off because they're sort of, you know, they've got an
38:36originality to them as original as anything can ever be.
38:39And it was different, you know, you got to remember like this was right when grunge was
38:43really rocking, you know, like our, actually our record came out a week before Nirvana's
38:47Nevermind came out.
38:48And then of course Nirvana record blew up and it really, it really helped us a lot because
38:52it opened the door.
38:53All of a sudden rock was back on the radio, but it was more bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana
38:57and that heavier stuff.
38:58But it opened up that lane for us.
39:01And when, when, when you find, when they finally, you know, decided to put some money behind
39:04us and go for real radio, it, it stood out because it was different from what was happening.
39:09It was still rock, but it was different.
39:11You know, we had our own sound, you know?
39:12So yeah, I mean, it's pretty amazing, you know, really.
39:15Grunge was all like heavy and dark and, and, you know, some of the coolest music of the
39:19era for sure, but we were like, kind of like happy and having a good time.
39:23And so we called ourselves like the alternative to alternative.
39:26That's right.
39:26I forgot about that.
39:27That's great.
39:29Aaron, very cleverly, when we were putting our repertoire together early on, you know,
39:35he had this very musical way of making sure that we had this kind of varied repertoire.
39:41So Aaron was like, we need songs with different tempos and different like tonal landscapes so
39:49that our songs don't all sound the same.
39:51It's a very musical way of approaching it.
39:53You know, it's, you know, it's one thing to be like, we need like different kinds of songs,
39:56but to, to approach it like that is extremely musical because then you're like, cool, we'll
40:00do some stuff in some different time signatures.
40:02We'll do some stuff, you know, slower stuff, faster stuff.
40:06And then as the lyricist, you know, I added on to that.
40:09Like, cool.
40:09Yeah.
40:10And we need to have like these different emotional kind of landscapes as well.
40:14So we've got songs that are, we've, our two most popular songs sort of have a happy feel.
40:19But, you know, Little Miss Can't Be Wrong is a very angry song, you know, and it's not
40:24about an ex of mine.
40:25It's actually about my dad's ex-wife who was particularly cruel.
40:28So if you delve into those lyrics, it's kind of tongue in cheek, but it's also kind of an
40:32angry song.
40:33And Two Princes is like a happy song with sad lyrics.
40:37It's really about a guy who is, you know, not really, you know, unrequited, dealing with
40:42like unrequited love.
40:43But then you go deeper into it.
40:45On the first record, we've got songs like Refrigerator Car.
40:58Shin Bone Alley.
40:59They are also like really kind of heavy songs.
41:08The stuff that's as heavy as any of the grunge stuff, but we were also, the stuff that really
41:12caught on was sort of our happier, more upbeat stuff.
41:16But I do think if I was going to compare us to these grunge bands, I would say that, you
41:21know, we sort of have a broader sense of like mood in the band because we don't just have
41:27happy songs we have, angry and sad and different kinds of emotional, you know, we cover all
41:34the emotions, happy, sad, et cetera.
41:37That's great.
41:38And any musicians that you particularly like today?
41:41I mean, there's so many.
41:42It's hard to even keep track, you know, it's like that's the problem.
41:45There's such a barrage of like information.
41:47You know, I see and hear so many incredible young musicians.
41:51And when I do sort of search around, there's tons of great bands and artists out there making
41:55really creative stuff and playing instruments as well.
41:58I mean, there's obviously a lot of stuff that's, you know, computer based.
42:01And that's cool, too.
42:02I mean, I just think like we're at this point in music where, you know, modern sort of music,
42:09rock and roll, whatever you want to call it, jazz, it's as time goes on, there's just so
42:14much more to sort of fuse together now.
42:16So a lot of the stuff I hear, the concepts of these young musicians and writers is just,
42:22you know, stuff that we would never think of.
42:23You know, and it's, I find it really inspiring.
42:26So I'm, I'm very, very optimistic about the future of music.
42:29I'm a little, I'm not as optimistic about how the business aspect of it, it's always
42:34been hard and it was really hard when we first started.
42:36But there was sort of this, this formula for a band back then, as hard as it was, you know,
42:42if you had a, got a band together, wrote some good songs, you know, and had a really
42:47good, unique sound.
42:48That's hard to achieve right there.
42:49But do that, go out and play a bunch of gigs, get a following in your local's town, get
42:54a record deal, get on the radio, get on MTV, boom.
42:59I mean, really, really hard.
43:00It's easy.
43:01Really hard to do.
43:02Piece of cake.
43:02Really hard to do.
43:04But it sounds like I see so many artists in New York that if that formula was still
43:09around, they would be, they would, you had a, you had a real chance back then, you know,
43:13but it's not, it's just different now.
43:15And I think with all the social media, I think a lot of people feel like they have to not
43:19only be a great musician or writer, but they have to be this social media personality.
43:22And it's whatever, you know, I'm not judging it.
43:25But for me, if I was going to give any advice to like a young musician or a young band or
43:31a young artist, whatever, I would say, just like what we've said before, you know, find
43:35your own niche.
43:36Don't try to copy anybody else.
43:37We've already got all that.
43:38And bring it to the people, you know, because I do think that ultimately for getting music
43:44and making a living, you have to go out.
43:47I think it's a mistake to think that you're going to be able to do it all from home on
43:51your phone.
43:51Not to say that some people haven't, and that's totally valid, but I think, you know, go out
43:56there and play for people.
43:57You're going to be better anyway as an artist if you're out there getting reaction from
44:01a crowd.
44:02But I'm super optimistic about the state of music.
44:04I think it's great.
44:05I like, honest to God, I don't listen to a ton of music.
44:09Aaron listens to a lot of music, but a lot of time, you know, that most people spend
44:13listening to music, I spend making music.
44:16When I'm not making music, a lot of times I tend, I'd rather like read a book or, you
44:22know, fool around with a camera, play some chess or, you know, like I just like to take
44:27a little break.
44:28One of the things that Eric Shankman, our guitar player, early on, by the time I met Eric, he
44:35was 25 and I was 20.
44:36He'd been playing guitar since he was like 14 years old.
44:40And I was like, don't you like, you know, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones and the
44:44Who?
44:45And he was like, I've been playing all those songs in bars since I was like 14 years old.
44:51He's like, I don't really listen to rock and roll anymore for like inspiration for rock
44:57and roll.
44:57I was like, what do you listen to?
44:58And he was like Ornette Coleman and, you know, John Coltrane, like Bebop, Charlie Parker.
45:04And I was like, that's so cool.
45:05Because, you know, if you're taking these ideas from somewhere else, you're bringing
45:09them back to rock and roll.
45:10You're going to have like, you know, these kind of fresh ideas.
45:14And I took that and I started to try and just go to like an art museum and like look at
45:23a Titian painting or look at some ancient Greek sculpture or something like that.
45:28And then try and bring, obviously I'm not going to write a song about an ancient Greek
45:33sculpture, but to use those kinds of things to just like freshen your mind and then, you
45:39know, come back to what you're doing.
45:41So, you know, a lot of times I just, I don't listen to a ton of music.
45:47Well, this has been awesome.
45:49Thank you for having us.
45:50Great.
45:50Congratulations on the new record.
45:52So good.
45:53So good.
45:54And I look forward to having your wife here sometime.
45:56Yeah.
45:56Yeah.
45:57Across the street.
45:58Yeah.
45:58She's very funny and way cooler than I am.
46:01Everybody likes, everybody likes Lindsay.
46:03You like Lindsay more than me, right?
46:04Oh yeah.
46:05Yeah.
46:05Everybody likes Lindsay more than me.
46:07Aw.
46:07We'll see you guys.
46:08We'll have to play next time.
46:09Sure.
46:09All right.
46:09Yeah.
46:10If you'll have us back.
46:10We'll definitely.
46:11I didn't know we were supposed to play.
46:14I have guitars.
46:15I have 20 of them.
46:16I could have brought them all.
46:18Played them all at the same time.
46:19Well, we'll be here.
46:22To hear more of this interview, visit our podcast, Life Minute TV on iTunes and all streaming podcast
46:27platforms.
Recommended
4:55
|
Up next
32:06
1:37
5:28
6:02
7:02
5:31
5:20
8:16