EIS: How is life on the ranch? Any more pony intrusions into the house?
SR: Not that I know of! I suspect the Missus brings all the horses in when I'm gone! It's peaceful out here, for the most part. We get lots of visitors when the weather's nice - we'll barbecue at the drop of a hat. I lived in the rat race long enough - it's nice to be able to slow down, stretch out, breathe some clean air, make a little noise, and be able to see the stars at night.
EIS: TunnelVision Brilliance is an undeniable masterpiece, which the liner notes say was recorded between December 1987 and June 2005. Eighteen years is an extraordinary amount of time. When you first began in ’87, did you ever have plans of releasing it? What was the process like during all those years/were you consistently working on it?
SR: Not having a deadline can be a curse and a blessing! I got my first studio job in '87, so I had a place where I could jot down ideas sometimes after work. It was always just for my own amusement, I guess. At that point I never thought about putting out my own record - I'd play stuff for my Wife and a couple of friends... After I got my own studio up and running, I ran out of excuses not to put something out. I'm still not very prolific - I've been working a lot. Something's gotta really be eating at me to push everything aside and get in there.
EIS: The album has an uncanny completeness like no other record I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to, with each song leading directly into the next in a hypnotic continuous voyage. With the songs being written over such an extended period of time, was it a conscious effort to make them interlock, or was it something that you added after everything was written?
SR: I don't remember much thought going into the sequence or anything. It's weird, though - now that I look at it, it's almost completely in the order that things happened in my life.
EIS: Your lyrics and voice are genuinely remarkable; do you enjoy singing your own vocals? What inspired the lyrics (ie: Fuck You All, The Day of Never Ending, The Fourth)?
SR: Cheers! Yeah, I enjoy singing a lot - it's cathartic to let stuff out, trying to make peace with some anger and frustration. It's like therapy - I've broken down during a couple of songs. "Queen Of Greed" is the most intense - I almost didn't put that one on - it's about a person with BPD that has blatantly fucked over her kids so hard, it's mind-boggling. "Fuck You All" is my cowboy song - I actually came up with that on horseback with that slow shuffle coming from the horse's gait. The guitar line is a nod to "Happy Trails", but the lyrics are a big fuck you to some let downs in the recent past - mainly about a friend, or so we thought, of over 20 years that worked for us and then stabbed us in the back. "The Fourth" was written on a plane to Japan on the 4th of July in 1987 - just tripping that my Wife's family, being American Indian, might not think of that as something to celebrate so much. "Day Of Neverending"... I wrote that the week my Grandpa Reeder died. He was a preacher, and a missionary in the Philippines for awhile. I guess the song was my way of saying I hope you found what you were looking for, but I'll never be like you.
EIS: Have the songs from TunnelVision… ever been performed live?
SR: Not yet! Diamond almost saw the light awhile back - Kyuss started a version on the Sky Valley sessions, but there were some flubs, and it got pushed aside. ProTools didn't exist back then!
EIS: What made you decide to release the Weaver’s Dawn/ As We Become single? Can we expect another full length album at any point?SR: I felt that those were my best recordings so far, and I just didn't want to wait for years to compile enough stuff again for a full length, so I just threw it out there on iTunes. "As We Become" was a piece I wrote for my Wife Renee to mark our 20th anniversary - gonna be tough for me to ever top that one - it meant a lot. I've got some stuff brewing, though - we'll see.
EIS: Having played massive fuzzy sludge-filled riffs for so many years (The Obsessed, Across the River, Kyuss, etc.) , what inspired you to create Tunnelvision Brilliance (an album more in common with Pink Floyd than Black Sabbath)?
SR: When I'm in band-mode I'm playing full blast, but when I'm writing by myself, it's usually a pretty quiet, introspective vibe. The solo songs are mostly stuff that wouldn't have fit in at all with my previous bands. I'd like to have a band for this stuff, someday. It just feels weird to ask people that you have a lot of respect for to back you up and only put only your name on it. Doesn't sit well, I guess. My ego-maniac side needs a little work! Just a little. : )
EIS: Your bass playing has a distinct tone (see “Diamond” / “Thanks”) that is unique to your sound. What kind of bass/set-up do you most frequent?
SR: I've pretty much always used old Ampeg SVT amps. I used Rickenbacker basses in the old days, and Ibanez ATK's in the last 15 years or so. Tone controls wide open on the heads for a lot of overdrive...
EIS: You played earlier this year with Pigmy Love Circus, and said it was great to be playing live again after nearly three years. Do you have any plans to tour again?
SR: I've shied away from a few offers to tour in Europe and Australia, but you never know. I do miss it sometimes, but I love the life we've created at the ranch - I get huge satisfaction helping bands get their vision out of the speakers.
EIS: Has there been any talk about a Kyuss reunion? Clearly Josh is busy with Them Crooked Vultures, but any serious consideration for the future?
SR: I don't foresee it happening. Ever.
EIS: You joined Kyuss after the release of their first two albums, playing on “…And the Circus Leaves Town” and “Welcome to Sky Valley,” which many consider to be the two finest albums from the band. What were the writing sessions like for those records? Did everyone have equal input?
SR: I think that despite what the credits say, everyone had a huge impact on how things turned out. Come on - Brant's [Bjork] drums on Demon Cleaner are fucking sick, but he doesn't get any credit for writing? Same thing with my bass stabs in the intro... Tool wouldn't even play Eulogy the same nights they played Demon Cleaner because of those stabs. There was a lot of that - lots of tension during Sky Valley, especially. Too much competitiveness. It was like jumping in a meat grinder - the end result was always good, though. Still, it was a huge bummer when Brant split. Then the label imploded, and there was a long wait for the smoke to clear. Josh move to Arizona for college... he'd come home on weekends for drum auditions. Once we finally got Alfredo and hit the road, all the bullshit was left behind and we just had fun for awhile. Circus was a lot easier - I didn't care as much, I guess. I laid back a lot more.
EIS: Did you have any idea that Kyuss would become so influential to an entire generation?
SR: If I bought into that, I might get an enlarged cranium, and my house isn't very big! In my mind, we weren't much different from any other band. The lower tuning thing had been done before, maybe not quite as low... I don't know. The live shows were out of control, though - lots of broken gear, bruises and blood! I think that live, we were definitely a tough act to follow.
EIS: How did The Freeks record come about? The band toured in Europe in support of the release, what made you decide to forgo the live shows? Did you work on the new Freeks 10” release Studio/Live?
SR: That band is Ruben Romano's baby - I was all set to play bass on the first record, but a week before the sessions, the middle finger on my fretting hand got smashed and broken. I ended up having an operation, and the whole thing put me out of commission for a year. I managed to struggle through one track on the record, but my bad hand knocked me out of really feeling a part of the band, besides just being the engineer guy. That sucked - I'd been looking forward to putting my stamp on that record, but Ruben did a fine job wearing a lot of hats on that stuff! Great working with John McBain, too!
EIS: You’ve worked as an engineer, mixer, and producer on an impressive array of records from Orange Goblin, Black Math Horseman, Dali’s Llama, Butcher, and others. Do you prefer working in the studio to playing live?SR: I love both, but the studio is much more practical for my lifestyle these days, and it's right here. I love being home and being connected to my loved ones. In the Kyuss days, we were gone six months out of the year - it took it's toll in many ways for me. We didn't have cell phones or internet in those days. It was great to be hooking up with friends in whatever town you were in, but I was losing touch with what was going on at home. I feel way more useful in the studio. Anyone could've played bass in Kyuss, but in the studio, I feel like I can really make a difference for someone that's coming through. I miss the adrenaline OD from playing live, but I'm in a way more creative place here. And I've been really lucky that I have some amazingly talented friends that have made the trek here to work together!
EIS: You manage to stay very busy, hovering just under the radar. Are you currently playing with anyone/ or recording anything you’d like to share?
SR: Right now I'm working on a new project called O with my old friend Peter Dolving from The Haunted - they're sending me tracks for me to throw some bass on - really challenging stuff! And Dali's Llama's drummer just quit - I played drums in their video out in the desert this week - fun! Played a couple of songs live with Black Math Horseman recently - it'll probably happen again soon... Got a few more possibilities coming up soon after I clear the slate a little bit...
EIS: In an interview last year with Iann Robinson you suggested that you’d like to play together in your “dream” band with Danny Carey (Tool) and Kim Thayil (Soundgarden) amongst others. I can’t really imagine something I’d rather hear, so I must ask, any progress on making this a reality?
SR: I've done some stuff with Danny over the years - he actually played drums on "Day Of Neverending". I jammed with Kim for a second at a Soundgarden gig in Germany - Renee and I were watching from the wings, and Ben shoved his bass in my hands during Jesus Christ Pose - Chris was not amused! But no, Danny's the only one of us that's not a hermit, and he stays pretty damn busy!
EIS: Looking forward to all those projects, and I hope to get a chance to see you live at some point in the future. Thanks so much for your time.
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