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Ezra by the Pound
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Better Than Ezra, Louisiana's favorite college band, has graduated with Friction, Baby. Did they ace Music Biz 101?
Outside Liberty Lunch, the famed live music club in Austin, Texas, 100 or so Better Than Ezra fans huddle together to fend off the chill prairie wind. Hopefully, the communal spirit of battling the elements will offer some consolation for missing tonight's show, for it sold out days ago and the additional tickets released tonight have been snapped up by the other 100 fans in front of them. It's the third sold-out show in a row, a "turkey" in band lingo.
Inside, 1,300 luckier souls jockey for position, a squeal from the front row alerting them that the main attraction is taking the darkened stage. The twangy lick of a lone Gibson guitar cuts through the smoky air, answered by a roar from the crowd. But they can't compete as the rest of the band jumps into "Long Lost," the current single off their current album, Friction, Baby. This is Better Than Ezra -- and they have come to "rock the kids."
Those who have seen the band before (the Ezralites) know what to expect, but for Ezra virgins it probably goes something like this: The guys came to see the band that sings "Good," because they know all the words and can impress their dates with their vocal prowess, while the girls came to see "that cute band from MTV." But all preconceptions are quickly dashed against the tremendous wall of sound. The guys are silenced, because not only can they not compete with Kevin Griffin's powerful tenor, but one look at their girlfriends clues them to the fact that he has already seduced them with his smoldering stage presence.
"What they really are is a great rock band," declares road manager John Isbell, "with radio-friendly songs that get lumped into pop." He's right, but in the three days I am with them on the road, I find that they're much more than that.
This is not my first time on the road with Ezra, having taken the opportunity in college to tour the Southeastern college-bar- and-frat-house circuit that made them what they are today. But a lot has changed since then. Ezra has toured all over the world for six years; lost a member to suicide and had another member quit; started their own independent record label and sold 30,000 copies of Deluxe before signing to Elektra, who made a platinum record out of it; and produced Friction, Baby, which is rapidly approaching gold. Ezra has made it and can count themselves among the biggest and best rock n' roll bands ever to come out of Louisiana. So, what now?
One thing is for sure. When it comes to band business, these guys are as serious as New Orleans crime. Griffin remembers the decision he made after graduation to skip law school and make a go of it with Ezra: "I entered this project with a goal in mind, and that was to make a career in the music industry."
Nothing is more evident as we ride in the band's van from the previous night's show in San Antonio to Austin. "This is a tertiary markets tour for us," explains bassist Tom Drummond, with all the rock star swagger of a bow-tied accountant. "We've never played cities like San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Beaumont, but we sell a lot of albums there. Normally we would be in a bus, but at a cost of $600 a day, we opted to take the money and drive our van."
Halfway to Austin, out come the laptop computers and mobile phones. Travis McNabb, the new drummer (formerly of the Vigilantes of Love and the Beggars) drives, while Drummond forwards digital images from their recent live performance on VH-1 to four fan-maintained Ezra websites. Meanwhile, Griffin advances an upcoming overseas tour with calls to various industry people in Europe, and Isbell inspects spreadsheets from the previous night's merchandise sales. Fifteen minutes after finding the hotel, they are met by an Elektra radio marketing rep who drives them to three back-to-back live radio interviews.
McNabb puts the band's impressive work ethic in perspective: "A lot of bands think that once they've gotten their record deal, they've made it. They get big egos and become complacent. But in truth, all a record deal means is that now you've got a chance to make it. It's a job, and you've got to work."
It is obvious that Ezra is well versed in the ways of the music biz, and why not, the band cut its teeth on music scenes like Boston and Los Angeles, hawking cassettes and CDs out of the van and doing whatever it took to get gigs. They once even faked a band bio, boasting shows at premiere clubs to win opening slots playing with The Pixies, The Lemonheads, and Dinosaur, Jr.
"Looking back, I think I worried way too much," Griffin says. "I know that's easy to say now, but if you really believe in what you're doing, you'll get the break you deserve. You should do what comes from the heart or it will ring hollow. At the end of the day, all I want to be able to say is that we did something honest."
This power-of-positive-thinking mindset comes up again and again with the 30-year-old singer/songwriter. Maybe that's why he isn't preoccupied with the so-called "sophomore slump" currently infecting the recording industry. From Hootie to Weezer, a slate of eagerly anticipated and hyped follow-up albums has failed to match past sales. The biz is unapologetically cutthroat -- you're only as good as your last single, and labels have all the focus of an ADD-inflicted 2-year-old if your new album doesn't exceed the sales of your previous one. Phone calls don't get returned; tour and radio support is no longer a priority. Living up to the expectations of a platinum record is not easy, and many bands don't cope with it well.
"What the label wanted and what we all wanted was to surpass the first album sales, and that hasn't happened yet," Griffin admits. "I would be kind of bummed if the record industry was really doing well and our album was the only one suffering, but the whole industry is so off. Everyone, including the Counting Crows, R.E.M., and Pearl Jam are like 'What the fuck is going on?'"
Luckily, the band cites strong ties with Elektra. "Words are really hollow in major label negotiations, but it has all been backed up by actions," Griffin says. "Elektra has already made money on this album and we remain a priority for the label, so I'm not worried about it. There are so many great albums that don't get heard, that don't sell a lot. It requires all these strange puzzle pieces to come together at once, the right timing, obviously the right song, the label really functioning on all cylinders. Sometimes that hapens, sometimes it doesn't -- it's nobody's fault."
Ezra has no problem with pushing this album to platinum the old-fashioned way -- by touring, making themselves available for interviews, and releasing strong singles. Remember, this is a band that sold 30,000 copies of Deluxe by their own devices before letting Elektra take over. Compared to "Good," "In the Blood," and "Rosealia," from that album, the Friction, Baby singles ("King of New Orleans" and "Desperately Wanting") have received even more radio play. The album has already sold in the nice neighborhood of 400,000 copies, and hasn't yet been delivered to the record clubs, which in the case of Deluxe accounted for 300,000 units. In other words, what sophomore slump?
Most of the songs on Friction, Baby were already penned by the time Ezra signed with Elektra, so had been road-tested in front of live audiences before being hauled into the studio.
What does it take to come up with the right song? In Ezra's case, Griffin handles the emotional part of the process: "I get ideas from a melody in my head or someone says a word or phrase that sets the mood for something I might play, and I start by humming rhythms and melodies into my recorder. You cannot try to write a hit song. You have to hope that you're one of those lucky people that when a song sounds good to you, it sounds good to other people."
Unlike songwriters who write lyrics first and then put them to music, Griffin does the opposite. "This usually works better rhythmically, as opposed to me writing down lyrics and then trying to put music to words," he explains. "People are drawn into a melody or a drum beat or a vibe; once they're into the song they realize, 'Oh! this song has great lyrics, too.' That's what really elevates it into a great song. Great lyrics don't carry a song but a great melody can. Like "Wonderwall" by Oasis -- the lyrics make no sense at all, but the melody is so great, it doesn't matter.
"What makes a good band is an intangible chemistry that exists between the songwriter and the band. Many times when a songwriter is left to his own devices, suddenly there is no one there to temper whatever lame tendencies he may have. Tom lets me know if he thinks there are things he can do with a song. If I bring a new song to the band and they pick up a play along, I know they like it. If they say something like, 'Oh, I've got to go to the bathroom,' then I know they hate it."
It's a safe bet that no bathroom breaks were called for when he pitched "King of New Orleans," a song that reaffirms the band's local roots even as it goes global.
Got an angel on the stairs
As if you'd even care
When the lights are up and the sun had nearly gone down
Did you see him on the street?
Did you pass him at your feet?
Did you think at all or dare to even look him in the eye?
"It's about these kids that come from all over the country, this loose network of homeless kids who live down on Decatur and Dauphine in the French Quarter," Griffin explains. "These kids are beautiful outcasts; the only family they've ever had are their street friends, and they're really interesting. They've been the subject of a lot of ire from the wealthy landowners of the French Quarter, and they're blamed for what's wrong with the French Quarter. I saw it as an analogy of so many times in your life when someone comes down on you, your natural tendency is to put it off on someone you perceive to be weaker than you. It's recognizing this part of your nature and trying to be tolerant of people who aren't like you."Friction, Baby also marks a studio maturation for the band, thanks somewhat to the contribution of veteran producer Don Gehman. The hooks are more subtle, the changes tighter, the sonic range more diversive.
"Long Lost," a single set for release this month, shows Ezra is also keeping current with the explosion of electronic music. "We chose to release this single because it gives people a taste of where the band is going," Griffin says. "The next album will have more diversive elements, more influences like looping and what's going on with electronic music. Electronic music is so exciting right now...and I think we will assimilate some of that."
"The key is using your influences and disguising them well," Griffin continues. "That's not a cop out -- you are a product of your environment and you take in things and spit them back out. The strange thing is that as little credit as is given to the general public, people really have an intuitive vibe about whether something has heart in it or not. And I really believe that."
by Hutch Hutchinson
This article appeared in Tribe magazine number 17.
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