Frontman Brian Vander Ark recently chatted with LAUNCH executive editor Dave DiMartino to discuss the new record, his collaboration with XTC's Andy Partridge, his newfound acting career, and what it's like to get advice from Gene Simmons.
Video excerpts of the conversation can be viewed in Issue No. 31 of LAUNCH on CD-ROM; an exclusive live performance of "La La" can also be viewed on the same disc.
LAUNCH:
Because Villains was so successful, do you think expectations were high for the new record?
BRIAN:
Expectations were fairly high for this one, but also fairly low. I don't think anybody expects our band to come out gangbusters and define our sound. I think the market's fairly cynical right now. Unfortunately there's not as much band support as there could be, like back in the '70s, when there were only 20 bands out there at a time. Now there are thousands and thousands of bands, you know. It might be met rather cynically, but we definitely have the goods with this one.
LAUNCH:
To your ears, what makes this new record sound different from the last one?
BRIAN:
I think it's different from our perspective because we would not bend on what we wanted to do or what we wanted to achieve with the record label. Basically, we sat down and decided what we wanted to do as a band. We're an older group of guys, and do we want to continue or even start to make music that panders to everybody's tastes than our own? No. We spent a lot of time on this record to make it sound just right. I think the sound is similar, because the songwriters and singers are the same. There are more four-part harmonies; the lyrics are less abject, a little more fun. And we're writing love songs now. There are a few love songs on there, and there never were before.
LAUNCH:
Is there any over-riding theme to the new record that's noticeable?
BRIAN:
From the first song, "Supergig," to the very last song, "La La," the theme is our band. That's why the album is named The Verve Pipe. So that's why we did that. The cover is of a dissected frog; it's really getting inside the band. Every one of the songs is about our band in some way. It's about what life is like on the road, dealing with our idiosyncratic behavior. It's definitely a bonding record for us.
LAUNCH:
Tell me how your home life has changed since you've become more successful in your career.
BRIAN:
I bought a bed, finally. I used to just have a bag and slept on that. I actually bought a bed, which is a major change in my home life. Unfortunately, I designed the bed myself. I told the guy I wanted it to be three feet off the ground. But they built the frame three feet off the ground, and then you have the box spring, and then you have the mattress, etc., so the thing is like this high now! And I'm six-foot-five and the bed comes up to my chest. It's like climbing the Great Wall, but once I get up there, I'm king of that room. That's about the only change, though.
LAUNCH:
You've been at this a while, and click--suddenly you've become successful. Is that kind of success what you had expected?
BRIAN:
Nothing is what I expected! If I were to look back at how I felt five or six years ago, I would say I had no clue of what this industry and what it's like to be a in a rock 'n' roll band and what goes with that. I always thought that if you wrote a great song they would play it on the radio. I was mistaken, I was sorely mistaken. That's not the case. There's a lot of politics involved with getting your stuff on the radio. We want desperately for people to hear our music. It's nothing like what I expected. Of course, when you're onstage it is, but offstage, it's a world that's very strange.
LAUNCH:
Do you like the record industry?
BRIAN:
I think there are good people in the record industry. I'm not going to go off and kiss our label's ass, because we have our problems, but I know that the record-making industry has an agenda and that agenda is to make money. I understand that. As an artist, that doesn't interest me. What interests me is sitting down in 10 years and being proud of my music. Or walking down the street and having someone gasp because they see me. That's a little treasure, making an impact on someone's lives and their tastes. As far as the record company and if I like them or not, I really have to. You have to get along. It's a forced relationship. I understand the label's agenda and I think they understand ours.
LAUNCH:
You spent a lot of time on the road promoting the last record. Is there a particular gig or circumstance that stands out to you or that you think is especially memorable?
BRIAN:
I can't think of anything that we did that was outside of the norm. Once you're in a band and playing 350 or 400 shows for a tour...I guess Bob Seger said it best in the song "Turn The Page" Actually, Bon Jovi said it best in that cowboy song: "All the towns look the same."
LAUNCH:
I know that at one point you were on the road with Kiss. Chances are you received some advice or wisdom from these interesting characters that have been around for so long. Can you recall anything in particular?
BRIAN:
Gene would come in our dressing room and say this or that. He'd hear us arguing, and he would come in and say, "This is the way it is, this is what you have to do." In fact, one time, he actually came into the back room, and we were arguing about playing the old stuff at a show in our hometown. Gene heard us arguing, so he came in and he was in full makeup--this is right before he went onstage. And he ducks into the room--he's tall, like seven-foot-five--and he says, "You gotta play the old stuff for the fans. Do you think I like playing that 'I Was Made For Loving You' disco crap? But we play it for the fans." He gave us a 10-minute lecture. We thanked him for the advice and as he turned to leave, he forgot to duck and he totally bonked his head. The poor guy! And he looked up and said, "You know, that's going to leave a mark!" He did! You could see the line it made in his makeup. God bless him, though. I don't want to make fun of Gene. Gene and Paul [Stanley] were responsible for getting us that tour. That was a major, major thing in our lives. It was the first big thing we'd done, and we were thrilled because we were fans.
LAUNCH:
In terms of the new record, tell me about the choice of producers. Why Michael Beinhorn?
BRIAN:
I wanted Michael Beinhorn to do Villains, actually. That's based on the strength of Soundgarden's Superunknown record. I'm in love with the album, I still am. The record company said they'd heard all these horror stories about Michael. No band record. I think sonically, those are fantastic records. They sound amazing. I heard he was really, really hard on vocalists. Ozzy will work with him twice. They talked me into Jerry Harrison; he wasn't my first choice, but he was the right choice. But Michael was in my mind, all the time, and he did the Manson record and the Hole Osbourne told me that. Michael is insane and you can't go into the studio with an ego. And it's true, because Michael is smarter than you are. He's this militant, gun-toting, cigar-chomping presence, and he's absolutely brilliant. But with that genius comes this eccentricity. He was the perfect guy for the record because he makes you step up. You want to impress him. You want him to say, "Nice job, today." I've not had that experience in a long time. Usually I don't care. Singing every song 100 times until he felt it was right, and listening to it now I hear a huge difference in the vocal performance from any other performance we've done. All of the performances.
LAUNCH:
You toured Europe in support of the last record. How are you perceived across the pond?
BRIAN:
It's really schizophrenic there. England can be very cynical, and yet they embraced our band. A couple reviews I read embraced the Villains album. Then you can go to Spain and everybody loves you. France really surprised me. I didn't think the French would like us, but they did. They embraced us, too. It just depends. The shows--it was fairly inconsistent. One night there would be 500 people; the next night there'd be 20.
LAUNCH:
Because you have been so busy touring and recording, how did you find time in your schedule to work with XTC's Andy Partridge?
BRIAN:
The last leg of the Villains tour was in Australia. I was told that Andy had called our publisher and asked if I would come over and write with him. I said, "SURE!" It was like a three-day writing session. We were in a tool shed in his garden. He put a mic between us. He's a very unassuming and modest man. It was just us, sitting there in his tool shed with his old computer and drum machines and stuff, me with a guitar, him with a guitar, just goofing off and playing. We came up with 12 or 13 songs. All nonsense lyrics--he'd sing silly, silly lyrics. Nothing rhymes. He chops it into the confines of a classic pop song structure. I took the tape home and there was a song called "Blow You Away." We took it to The Avengers soundtrack, and they loved it. It's just a matter of me taking the time to sit down and arrange them. Once Andy was done, he said, "Go do whatever you want with these." He was meticulous and busy working on his own record. I think he just wanted someone from America who'd had some success to come and work with him. I don't know if the Avengers soundtrack was the best bet--the movie closed before it opened--but I love the soundtrack.
LAUNCH:
I've read somewhere that you've tried your hand at acting. Tell me about that.
BRIAN:
I did an indie movie called Roadkill. The script was just fantastic, very funny. I didn't know the filmmaker, but he'd gotten a budget from Miramax. I paid my own way to be in this thing. I played a country singer that's just horrible, but he's a really friendly guy. I knew the guy--he stops in the middle of the song to explain the meaning of the song. I loved it. I did one more movie with him called The Space Between Us. I just did a movie called Mergers & Acquisitions where I play an evil banker--short hair, sideburns gone. Very Wall Street. Very fun.
LAUNCH:
Do you read what the critics have to say about your band? Is there any one thing that has been written about you that comes close to what you want to achieve musically?
BRIAN:
I read everything written about our band. I'm very curious and I do care. The closest anyone came to pegging us was written in a poor review of the record. He said we tried to bridge the gap between American grunge and English pop. I thought that nailed it. He thought we failed at it and gave us the poor grade, but I think with this record, we've definitely achieved that. It's post-grunge, more rock. American rock and English pop.
LAUNCH:
How familiar are you with computers and the Internet?
BRIAN:
I've turned off my laptop from the last tour and I've not gotten it out again. I tried desperately to embrace the Internet. It was too distracting. You go from one place to another place. It's so time-consuming. Not only do you have voicemail, now it's email, instant messages. I was bombarded by people that I had to answer to, and I couldn't do it anymore. A.J. is the Internet guy in our band; he has a page for our band. The MP3 is going to be a huge deal. It will change the face of music and how it's marketed. We'll always be on top of that thing. But on a personal level, I just can't get into it. No offense.
LAUNCH:
What do you think is the dopiest trend in music right now?
BRIAN:
The dopiest thing is the white-boy pop-rap-type thing. The Third Eye Blind thing. I hear it 24/7 now. Silly.
LAUNCH:
What was the last CD you purchased?
BRIAN:
The last record I bought was Radiohead's OK Computer. That was the second time I bought it. And I bought Rain Dogs--Tom Waits.
LAUNCH:
Now that you've achieved a certain level of success, have you indulged in any big rock star extravagances?
BRIAN:
I wasn't really allowing myself to indulge in this, but I swung my guitar at the TV in New York City out of frustration. That was my big rock star moment for me. It probably would have been really rock star if I hadn't taken the remote to turn it on just so I could see the sparks!
