Getting Another Shot

08/25/1999 3:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Don Kaye

Filter singer/ guitarist Richard Patrick pulls back the curtains in his hotel room, which soars high above Manhattan, and watches as huge, darkly ominous clouds converge for a major thundershower. Patrick is just as awed by the view of the city as he is by the oncoming weather. "This is amazing," he says with almost childlike wonder, a simple Cleveland kid whose status as a rock star has not yet jaded him.

Considering how tumultuous as life has been for him over the last four years, since Filter's debut album Short Bus first rocked the world with the eerie hit single "Hey Man, Nice Shot," Patrick has a lot to be excited about right now. Filter's long-awaited, often brilliant second album, Title Of Record, has finally arrived; the first single, the hard-driving "Welcome To The Fold," has exploded at both the modern and active rock radio formats; and the band is second to only Limp Bizkit on this fall's edition of the Family Values tour. Not bad for a guy who, just two years ago, had no band, was punch-drunk from constantly being the road, was being sued by a fan for allegedly hitting her with a beer can, and, worst of all, was having problems composing songs for Filter's all-important sophomore effort.

"I had to grow up a little bit," admits Patrick, who got his first taste of fame as Nine Inch Nails' touring guitarist before breaking away in '95 to create Filter, later adding programmer and fellow NIN refugee Brian Liesegang. "Filter was originally nothing more than my eight-track, my computer, and my mom's basement. I wrote the first record and tried to work things out with Brian [before the second record], but he turned into a guy who I didn't understand, so he left. Then I wanted to build a studio. All these things make you develop, but the one thing that was weird was that the harder that life got for me, the music got better. I wanted to write rock songs like 'Welcome To The Fold' and 'Captain Bligh,' but I also grew into writing songs like 'Take A Picture' and 'Miss Blue.'"

The shocking parting with Liesegang--the two appeared inseparable for the better part of two years, but Patrick rejected the former's attempts at songwriting--as well as a torturous breakup with a girlfriend, fuels much of Title Of Record's lyrics, directly or not. The music, on the other hand, steps forward considerably from Short Bus, which Patrick now labels "two-dimensional." Melody, dynamics, texture, and moments of outright beauty have replaced the first album's droning alternative-industrial stomp. Touring guitarist Geno Lenardo has taken a more active role in songwriting and recording as well, with live bassist Frank Cavanaugh and rookie drummer Steve Gillis rounding out the brand-new lineup.

Lenardo hung tight while Filter went through its "funky" period, the timespan which saw Liesegang depart and Patrick party a little too much before secluding himself to write. "I went down to the studio--Richard was in a heavy state of isolation at the time--and we just started to talk about what was important in music," Lenardo recalls. "We cleared all the excess baggage and found out what we had in common, which was the idea that we wanted to make songs."

While Patrick hopes that his new partnership with Lenardo will last, he feels that the last two turbulent years of his life have helped him possibly achieve one goal: "I have this strong theory that if you write incredibly honest lyrics about what you know, and what's painful and what hurts, what makes you happy and sad, you'll hopefully write a great record."