You worked with Mark Needham to
produce your upcoming record. How did you happen to get set up with
Mark Needham?
After my bout with cancer and having to walk away
from some major labels because of being sick, we wanted to get
someone involved with us we trusted. We wanted to have our sound
tucked in, and the songs the way we wanted prior to going back to
the labels. Mark was into it and wanted to get involved. We knew
with Mark's track record and reputation that we could produce the
stuff with Mark and pretty much walk in with a finished product.
Can you talk a bit about how your
producer’s involvement impacted the sound or approach taken for your
new album?
Mark just let us be us. Mark shines because he
creates an environment where you can do what you do best. He records
and mixes as well as anyone in the industry. We didn't want someone
to come in and reinvent us…we wanted someone who wanted us to be us.
Mark got it.
You recorded your first EP in
Cleveland. Where was your new recording done?
The new album was recorded at East/West Studios in
Los Angeles, and overdubbed at Mark’s mansion studio in Hollywood.
Your lead track is "Fire In the
Sand," which is a song that you have been performing live for quite
a while now. Did it undergo any modifications for the album version?
Yeah, we reworked it some. Just felt like it deserved
a bit more grit, and a bit more emphasis on the groove. We had Kurt
Schneider play bass on the track which really set it apart as well.
How will you distribute and
promote the new album?
The new album will be our first "label" record and
will be distributed internationally as such.
I don’t really remember a band
previous to the White Stripes doing a guitar and drum duo, though it
is a popular choice these days (re: Black Keys, Amoreux). The duo
format puts a big workload on two guys. What are the challenges to
performing as a blues-rock duo? What do you need to do to make your
music come across as intended?
We don't really see ourselves as a blues rock duo. We
just see ourselves as a rock band. I think it's kind of like a
three-legged dog: it gets along and around just like it has four
legs. It forgets it's missing something. We didn't set out to even
play out with this project. We were just having fun and the songs
were so good and effortless that we decided to play a couple local
shows and it snowballed from there. Brian does a great job covering
holes with the drums, and I've created a system to play two guitars
and a bass from one guitar. I think one of the things this band has
made me realize is that when you see five guys on stage playing,
it can be pretty lazy and self-indulgent; everyone is waiting around
for their part to play. If you are doing a jam band or something,
sure…but if you are in the business to play songs, how many people
do you really need? How many people does Dylan need to blow your
socks off with "Blowing in the Wind"? One. What lights your fuse
when you are going down the road and "Highway to Hell" comes on,
because it's just one guitar and drums to the chorus? To me, it's
not about how many parts. It’s about finding the right part. I
always see our band as an instrument to present a song in the most
honest and direct way. We are whiskey instead of long island ice
tea.
How do you keep from repeating
yourself while working within what might be a limiting format? Or do
you see it that way?
It hasn't been an issue yet, and we are 45+ songs in.
I don't think it's any more challenging for two people not to repeat
themselves as four. You still have a verse, and bridge and a
chorus--the same as a book has an opening, chapters and close.
Is the two-person format something
you would change for any reason? Do you have tunes written for
arrangements requiring more pieces? And, if so, how do those tunes
differ from what you do as a two-piece band?
When we go into the studio we don't limit ourselves
at all. I play a little of everything, so if we hear something the
needs strings, or a mandolin, or whatever, so be it. We've always
felt like we were best live, so if we ever do something so great in
the studio we can't cover it live, great. I would think of it as a
challenge. At some point it might be fun to have some more
instruments and friends to play with, but a lot of the two piece
bands in our generation, I think, have watered down as they got away
from where they started. We both play in side projects from time to
time and love all kinds of music, so we have plenty of opportunities
to enjoy larger bands without changing what we both love about this
band. The Cold Stares never sounded like a two-piece band live, so
it never has been a topic. We usually have people asking how we
trigger things (we don't) or is there a guy playing bass beside the
stage or behind the curtain.
Chris, your guitar approach may
leave one with the impression that a bass player may be a
superfluous thing. You seem to have achieved this through the use of
octave doubling pedals, which you use to add bottom end to certain
sections of your songs. Can you talk a little about your technique
and the types of stomp boxes you are using?
I'm not using stomp boxes to create the bass sound.
No thank you.
RAR NOTE: Chris
kind of blew me off with his answer to that question, which I was
really interested in hearing him talk about. Or maybe irony and
sarcasm doesn't translate well through the written word. Chris Tapp
is a way cool guitar player who uses a bank of pedals to process the
powerful sound that he produces, and I would have guessed that among
them was an octave doubler (got one myself, works great to achieve
bottom end effect). Here is a video that shows Christ Tapp at work,
sometimes with his feet.
What guitar(s) and amplifier(s) do
you use to support what is a pretty big and aggressive sound?
I have a number of different guitars and amplifiers
that are interchanged depending on my mood and where we are playing.
It's really not so much based on the type of amps, but the number
(trinity) and placement. I currently have a number of guitars, but I
have a very special Les Paul that was built 3/3/13 for a certain
guitarist and by chance found its way to me. It’s a gold telecaster
with some one of a kind wide range style pickups. For the acoustic
set I have two National resonators that are two of the finest
instruments I've ever played.
RAR NOTE: Chris
probably felt like this question has been well covered in previous
interviews, but for the uninitiated Chris Tapp is known for his
three-amplifier setup, which is what he refers to above as the
"trinity". It is a key part of how he achieves his monster sound.
One might think that writing songs
for the Cold Stares, particularly in Music City, might be a lot like
designing, manufacturing, and preparing a product for presentation.
Products typically say something about the consumers who buy them.
What are your targets, or your objectives, when you visualize a new
song?
With this project I've never written a song for
anyone but myself and the objective is to want to hear it.
Who and where is your core
audience?
We have been extremely blessed that our audience is
so diverse. We have people come out to shows from all ages, races,
and backgrounds. I’ve never been involved with another project where
such a wide group seems to get it. I think and hope it's just the
honesty that comes across and is easy to relate to.
What might you like to hear people
say are the qualities that make The Cold Stares songs special and
unique?
First and foremost, they come from an honest place. I
don't write anything that doesn't mean something to me. When you
really allow yourself to come through in the songs, they will
naturally be somewhat unique, because God made us all differently
even though we share so many similarities. I'm an average guy. We
are an average band. We aren't Steely Dan or Herbie Hancock. Then
again we aren't Green Day either. I think we are a blue collar band
that writes things that people can relate to. I had someone say
once, “You write a lot about God.” Well, God means a lot to me. “You
also write songs about death?” Yeah, well I've had cancer, and Brian
and I have lost a lot of people that were close to us since we
started this band. “You write about killing?” My great grandfather
shot and killed the Sheriff and Deputy on the front porch of the
home that I lived in for awhile. My great aunt and uncle ran a
funeral home through the Great Depression. I grew up on those
stories. If I have a tie to early blues music, it's that those songs
carried the same themes that I relate to. Love, death, murder and
salvation.
Do you have themes that you return to time
and again? And, if so, do they reflect any particular ethos the Cold
Stares might represent as a voice in popular culture?
We aren't looking to represent anything or anyone
other than ourselves. Enough people in the world are trying to do
that. I don't really want to be a part of a popular culture that
idolizes people like the Kardashians. We relate to the
counter-culture. Themes that we return to I think, and hope, are
things that most Americans as humans have dealt with as a people. I
don't want to write a song about love or faith…I want to write a
song about how love or faith directly affected me or someone I
relate to exactly and directly at a specific moment in time. We have
enough broad statements to mean everything to everyone. I want to
strike a specific chord in someone who has experienced an exact
feeling that some of us have shared.
It always seems to me that the
people who perform most effectively work really hard at what they
do, and it feels like you two are motivated and in that category.
What would you imagine to be the greatest thing that could happen
for the Cold Stares? Is there a goal that you might feel really
satisfied about achieving?
I would love to have a song that meant something to
me end up in a movie that also really meant something to me. The
power of song plus the visual of storytelling aligning is a one-two
punch to the soul like nothing else. I want to do something that
sticks around. We were riding around once with the windows down,
downtown, and had the theme to Rocky blaring. Almost every
person we passed would start boxing or faux jogging, even a guy on a
scaffold. Perfect melody, visual, soul vibrating connection the
moment that trumpet sounds. I’d love to have that just once.
If one were to say that The Cold
Stares represent a particular aspect of the American character or
condition, what would you hope that aspect to be?
Flaws and contradictions, hard work and honesty.
A working class that never stopped working.
Producer Mark Needham