Since 2007 you have steadily released solo albums, when did you realize
you wanted to grab an acoustic and just start going on your own?
I've been writing, recording and playing acoustic music a
lot longer than most people know.
I started on acoustic and it's always been the instrument of choice at
the end of the day. When I was
younger I definitely preferred playing louder but as I've grown older I've
found that less is certainly more.
Especially in volume!! In
all seriousness, even through the years of playing in bands, I've always played
acoustic and wrote songs on my own, it wasn't until Hot Water Music went on an indefinite
hiatus and split for a while that I switched all of my main focus back to my
own songwriting and work.
When you mentioned it to the guys in Hot Water Music that you were going
solo for a bit, what was there reaction?
I never mentioned that at all because that was never the
intention. In fact at the time I
had aimed to get away from the music "business" and focus on my trade
and start a custom home building business. I never stopped writing songs, I never stopped playing
music. There was never a lull in
my life for that. I was just burnt
on the band, burnt on the road and wanted a stationary life with the woman I
loved. When HWM was writing for
"The New What Next" I told the guys after a writing session that day
that I was done. It was one of the
hardest things I'd ever tell a friend.
I knew that they were full on and I felt the opposite. I felt moving forward would just be
lying to the people who believed in our music and lying to myself by continuing
being on a stage while I truly wanted to be somewhere else. Our own songs and my own lyrics started
ringing truer than ever to me and at that moment I relaized that if I didn't
own up to that and face that demon, then everything that I had fought and stood
for w/that band would have dissolved.
Their reactions were all different. Some positive and very understanding and some the opposite
but understandable to an extent.
It wasn't an easy time but nothing that's ever worth anything comes easy
I suppose.
Your latest record, Covering Ground, is some of the best material you
have ever written. When you were laying things down for the record, did you
ever stop and say “damn, this is really good?”
Not really. I
write a lot, I sometimes write very consistently so there's always a stream of
something happening or getting documented. I know that some of it's good to me and then I also know
that a lot of it isn't and will never see the light of day or another ear and
that's fine. To me those songs,
melodies, lyrics and parts are just as important as the ones that actually make
it onto the records.
Much of Covering Ground is about hope and aspirations but also being
comfortable in your own skin (at least that is what I get from it), what does
Covering Ground mean to you?
You said it.
Finding the balance. Doing
your job and fulfilling your duty in your life for your partner or your loved
one. Your trade or line of
work. Doing what you love to do
and loving what you do. Finding
the balance between passion and duty and staying alive along the way while counting
your blessings and not forgetting to stop and realize how you got there or who
helped you get you there in the first place.
Many artists from other bands – Frank Turner, Brian Fallon, Dave Haus,
Craig Finn, Greg Attonito and yourself have all very similar things in coming.
Trading off punk bands and acoustic- anthem sounds. Why do you think this trend
is happening more often now than ever before?
There's been a rise in the popularity of it and in turn it's
gained momentum behind it which will always bring more interests and continue
the cycle. Who knows for how
long? The thing about genres and
buzzes in music etc. is that they always come and go, rise and fall in
popularity but that is how we as music lovers decipher what is true and false
in today's music and what we know and love as well as what will stand the test
of time and continue on whether it's popular or not. I'm proud to say that I run in a cirquit with whom I believe
are some of the most incredible songwriters of our generation. Some of them you'll see playing
stadiums or in front of thousands of people a year or on tv even, but.....these
folks....these people... these are the songwriters that will be around whether
it's cool or not, whether they are playing sold out theaters or your backyard
bbqs. These are the people that
inspire me and that I'm proud to call my friends.
Touring with some of those names mentioned before, anyone every think
about starting a mass band / supergroup together – like The Traveling Wilburys
of punk?
Shhhhhhhhhuuussshhh.............not so loud.........wait for
it........In the meantime, check out www.therevivaltour.com as well as
all of the compilations. That
should tide you over until what your talking about happens. Again... Shhhhhhhhh............
In 2010 you had mentioned in an interview that you and Brian Fallon were
collaborating on music together. What ever ended up happening with that
project? Will those sessions ever be released?
We decided to postpone it. At the time we were both too busy, him with Gaslight and I
with Revival and my own songs. We
wanted to do it but decided to hold off and he went forward with Ian Perkins and
The Horrible Crows record "Elsie" and I with "Covering
Ground." We'd love to make it
happen but you never know in this business.
Going out on stage every night by yourself with your guitar, the
audience participation seems to be huge. They in-turn become your backing band.
What is it like to have a room full of people singing along with every word you
have written?
Overwhelming, inspiring, intimidating, flattering, peaceful
and raucous all at the same time!
Given your
different styles in your solo work and in Hot Water Music, which do you
prefer?
My own work by far but that doesn't mean I'll put any less
passion and steam into the HWM songs when the time or the show comes.
What has
been the best thing about being on your own?
Independence.