BB: What was that like for
the engineer? Chris: The engineer had a big challenge. It was Brad Young, of
Underground studios.
He usually does hip-hop records, so he’s not used to live stuff at all.
He hadn’t been briefed on what the project was, so when we walked in,
these eight guys, and a lot of them are older jazz guys, and he
literally looked at us like, whoa. I could see his heart drop a little
bit, like, how the hell am I gonna do this? It was hard to blend eight
instruments and make it sound right, and I think he did an amazing job.
BB: What about “All Time Favorite” gave it
the opening spot? Chris: I thought it was the best blend of the two styles of
music. Ultimately with this record you have a rock singer with a
seven-piece Dixieland jazz band, so I felt that whatever song can
capture a true blend of those two styles of music should be first. “All
Time Favorite” has the attitude of a rock singer, with the nostalgia of
old time music. The weirdest thing about that song was what it was
about. I used to eat in this restaurant called the Dixie Kitchen, near
the Berklee School of Music, and it’s since closed down, but it used to
have this amazing pie there, called Peanut Butter Pie. And the whole
place was styled New Orleans Style, and I wrote this song probably ten
years after that place shut down. The song was really kind of a tribute
to male insecurity, and think it’s just funny that it was a full circle
thing, where I hadn’t really thought about that place or that pie in so
long, but it all came out in one song.
BB: Tell me about “Dinner and a Dream.” Chris: It’s one of those things when you’re in a long-term
relationship and you realize sometimes the tiniest moments can be the
most romantic. Suddenly romance is not wrapped around the big moments
where you yell I love you from a rooftop. Sometimes it’s more about just
bringing your partner a cup of coffee, or little simple things. I wanted
to try and define that style of relationship, where it’s kind of late in
a Boston winter, and it’s just a simple romance.
BB: What’s it been like doing the album
live? Chris: We’ve only done this album live twice. And it was
incredible, to sing with horns in back of me. I was worried about making
the record still be kind of a pop record, so people wouldn’t be turned
off, saying, you know, I’m not buying a jazz record. So I pulled the
horns back a little bit, so you can still hear the songs, and still feel
the chorus is a chorus and the verse is a verse. But live, when I’m
singing with the horns right in back of me, the sound is almost crazily
chaotic, and because of that it’s really fun to sing live.
PLAYING OUT
BB: Do you prefer the studio or playing out? Chris: I like both for different reasons. The studio is just
where you get the best sound; it’s when you hear a song actually come to
life. I don’t really know what the song’s like ‘til I get the
tape back and actually listen from home, almost as a listener or a buyer
of music, rather than a writer. I think that always is a fun process,
and it’s scary too, but it’s definitely fun hearing a song that you
wrote in your bedroom looking out a window one day. You hear it become a
real song, with real instrumentation to it, and a real vibe and stuff.
But then playing that song live is just, there’s nothing like looking in
people’s eyes. And singing a song that moves them in some way, even if
it’s just got a happy beat and it makes them dance. My last job was
working in a hotel basement as a wine inspector, a 6:30am shift every
day, with no windows, and it was, like, very dismal job. So now playing
live, I stop during every show and think, I can’t believe this is my job
now, and it just makes me so happy, so I was filled with this bizarre
joy, it’s almost like this insane joy thinking I’m so amazingly lucky to
be able to do it.
BB: What do you think makes a good show? Chris: I think spontaneity is crucial, and that’s also one of the
nice things about this style of music. With a Dixieland band, it’s like,
we will never recreate that record live, note-for-note. And that’s what
I’m used to doing. On tour, you’re meant to sell the record, so you have
to play the record, and make it sound as close to the record as you can,
that’s just how it’s done. But with this style of music, because
Dixieland jazz is based around chaotic horn parts, it’s guaranteed
spontaneity. You’ll never see the same show twice. I like that a lot
about it. I’ll do my part the same way, but the Wolverine Jazz Band will
always do it differently because it’s all based on soloing and leads and
feel.
THE BOSTON MUSIC SCENE
BB: What are some of your favorite places to
play music in Boston? What do you think are some of the best clubs from
a musician’s perspective? Chris: Actually, right here is where I first started playing, the
Common Ground in Allston, where we’re talking now. Mike, the owner here,
actually offered me my
first big-money gig, it was for $250 a night, and this is without a
following or anything. I’d been
used to making 50 bucks a gig. And he said this is what I pay, so we
came in and then built a following here, at this club.
BB: What are some others? Chris: I used to love playing Bill’s Bar, just ‘cause Landsdowne
Street was exciting. But I think my favorite club to play is Harper’s
Ferry. The booking agent there, Dan Millen, has a real hands-on
attitude, so if he books an act there, he actually works to make the
show happen. He goes out of his way to make sure that the artist is
taken care of, and he’s just a good guy. And Harper’s is a little
off-the-beaten-path, and there’s also some nice aspects to being off the
beaten path, where you don’t contend with as many parking issues and
that kind of thing.
BB: How would you compare the Boston music
scene to the other cities you’ve played in? What’s different about it
here, and the fans? Chris: Well, it’s bigger. There’re only a couple of cities with
more places to play, but Boston is definitely a music city, for sure. BB: What cities have more places to play? Chris: I think Minneapolis has the most places per capita to
play, believe it or not. It’s so cold there, people need entertainment.
When you open up the Arts page there, it’s literally like 50 pages of
clubs, and it’s all cool, anything from polka—and I’ve seen polka bands
there who were amazing—to like, soul bands that were awesome. The
lyrical singer-songwriter
thing in Boston is very respected, but in these other cities you look
for a singer-songwriter room, and they’re hard to find. There’re a lot
of dingy rock bars, but a singer-songwriter
club like, say, Passim, or the Lizard Lounge, you won’t find those in
other towns, and I think that’s the nice thing about Boston.
BB: Do you see any difference in the music
fans in these cities? Chris: I think Boston’s the kind of town that, when it embraces
something, it really embraces it. I mean, I’ve felt so much support here
personally, and I’m always shocked when people come out to shows, and
are still coming out nowadays, long after the hype is gone. Now it’s
really just about true fans. That’s always amazing for me. The longevity
and endurance of the fans here is what amazes me.
IN CLOSING
BB: If you could play onstage with anyone
alive, who would it be? Chris: Wow, that’s a great question. I’d say Springsteen would be
cool, as far as a living guy. That would be really neat… BB: Second choice? Chris: Simon and Garfunkel, or just Simon, he’s fine with me. But
honestly most of my true musical loves are gone from the earth. Charles
Brown, he’s a blues guy who I really really
love, Sam Cooke’s another one, that if I ever could have met it’d be
amazing. But it might be difficult right now. (Laughs.) U2 I like a lot
too.
BB: What do you hope to be doing in music in
a few years? Chris: I want to always make the business come after the art,
that’s the biggest thing for me. I’m not thinking too far ahead, because
if I start doing that, it becomes not spontaneous, and not creative. The
thing I like about this record is that the idea was spontaneous, the
process was spontaneous, and every note on it is creative. I felt like,
there’s not a lot of rock records with Dixieland jazz on it. So I think
that that’s my goal, is to always follow that creative spirit, never
cave to the commercialism or the business side, just try and keep it
interesting, and hope to God that I’m still writing inspired songs.
That’s the biggest fear for me, is to lose that… skill, or gift or
whatever it is. And I like the fact that I don’t understand it yet,
still, to say I’ve written hundreds of songs, but I still feel like it
something that I’m honored to do still. I wanna keep that kind of
feeling.
BB: What do you hope people will get out of
your music? Chris: A little escape, a little joy, a little connection, I
guess. True emotion. I think the best songs are the ones that make you
think yeah, I’ve been there, I know what this guy is saying. And I’ve
been lucky enough to have that happen, where people use my songs as
wedding songs, or funeral songs even, which is more amazing. I want to
write songs that are relevant to people’s lives, beyond just a catchy
tune.
BB: What advice would you have for aspiring
local musicians? Chris: I think the one lesson I should have learned early on is
that the business is really all based around the fans, it’s never based
around the business. You know, a lot of bands will send CDs to me and
they say, can you recommend an agent, or we just need a manager, or we
need a record label. The fact is that what you need—your whole career
this will not change—is fans. And if you have that, than you
dictate
your own terms throughout your whole career. And don’t sacrifice your
art for anybody else, and I think that’s the key. I think that most fans
have a big bullshit detector. They’ll sense if you’re selling out, or if
you’re compromising. So think of them first, before thinking of the
record label or an agent or manager or whatever else.
BB: Thank you for talking to Boston Beats. Chris: Sure! Thanks for having me. It was fun.