Today marks a monumental moment in Exploding In Sound's history, as Ty Griffin (check out his site HERE!) has become the sites first ever guest contributor. I'm happy to have him working for the site, and after seeing his work, I'm sure you all will be too. So without further ado, I present to you Ty Griffin and the most excellent Here Holy Spain...
When I called Wes Todd, a friend of mine and singer for the Dallas indie punk band, Here Holy Spain, to ask if I could do an interview; all it took was a 12-pack of Shiner Bock to talk him into it. So I met up with the band at their practice room at Universal Rehearsal in Dallas, Texas, and sat in while they went through their set list for their gig at The Prophet Bar in Deep Ellum the next night. It was loud, it was intense, and it definitely gave a great first impression for what their live show is like. Afterward, singer Wes Todd, bassist Erica Guagliardi, and drummer Rob Schumacher sat down with me where we covered topics including their latest album, a Christmas song in the works, opening for the Toadies and Chuck Ragan, nicknames, and Snuggies. That’s right, Snuggies.
Ty: To starts things off, how did you come up with the name, Here Holy Spain?
Wes: Here Holy Spain, the band name comes from… Well, there’s two separate stories. The first story where the name is actually from is a Jack Kerouac book called “Lonesome Traveler” which is awesome, but we actually got the name from my friend, Mike Dixon, who had a band called Here Holy Spain, and played a couple shows and broke up; when we were trying to think of band-names, we couldn’t think of one. So we were talking about band names and said, ”…man, Here Holy Spain was a pretty cool band name, we should call Mike and see if we could use it.” And we did and he said cool. That’s basically it.
Ty: Your debut album, Manic, came out this past spring on Idol Records. Tell me about the recording experience. How was working with producer, Casey Diiorio (The Crash that Took Me/Midlake)?
Wes: Casey is awesome. He keeps up with our humor and has a good knowledge of everything you would need to have as a producer. He’s got great gear at his studio (Valve Studios). You’re free to use whatever you want which is amazing, and he’s just really … laid back.
Erica: He’s got a really great room to record drums. We’ve recorded drums at other places, not with this band, but with others, where the drums sound like someone banging on a table top. This isn’t the case with Casey. He’s got the best drum recording set up.
Wes: Yeah, that room is the best drum sound in town.
Ty: I really like the “Manic” cover art. Who was the artist behind that?
Erica: James O'Barr (author/illustrator of "The Crow") did our album art. A friend I used to work with is friends with him, and back when we were starting out he brought James out to a show. He liked our music, and continued to come and see us when he had the time. He offered to do our cover art for us (which we GRATEFULLY accepted), and after coming up with some very impressive rough concepts, he drew and painted the cover art which is now featured on the cd. James is incredibly talented and a great guy, and we're glad to know him, which would be the case whether he did our album art or not. I don't have enough nice things to say about the man.
Ty: This one is for you, Erica. Some people think that rock music is an “all-male sport”. What are your thoughts on that and tell me about how it is being the only woman among these crazy guys?
Erica: Oh Hell… Well, if you can play, you can play. It doesn’t really matter if you’re a girl or a guy. I’m pretty low-maintenance. I’ve been hanging with guys my whole life, and there are rarely any communication problems between me and the guys in the band. I mean if we need to go tour in a van and I can’t shower for a week, I don’t care. I mean I would like to, but I don’t care. (Looking at Wes and Rob) I’m not terribly demanding.
Wes: If I can burp and she laughs, then we know everything is going to be fine.
Erica: And I can drink more than him.
Wes: She can. She can drink me under the table!
Ty: [Laughing] That’s awesome! Ok, so tell me about the Christmas song that you recorded with Mark Reznicek from the Toadies, Jencey from Smile Smile…
Erica: and also with all of Young and Brave.
Erica: Yeah, that’s right.
Ty: Well, tell me about recording that track and when we can expect to see the Idol Records Christmas album coming out.
Wes: The single is supposed to come out for Christmas 2009 and later be included on a new Idol Christmas compilation for 2010. That whole session was one of the most fun things we’ve ever done. Rob, I’m really bummed that you had to miss it. It was really awesome, I mean it went easy, normally with recording sessions you’re plagued with some kind of problem that delays productivity, and it can get stressful, but everything went by really quickly. It was really easy, and really fun.
Erica: The stars aligned, as Casey said.
Wes: Yeah, everything went great; it was a beautiful day, people came and had fun and did what they wanted to do. Jencey’s (from Smile Smile) part sounds great, Young and Brave sounds awesome, Rez is killing it on the drums and Casey (Diorrio) actually contributed bells to the intro and outro to make it more Christmassy. Everyone totally makes the song… it’s awesome. I mean, it felt like a big friend project…
Ty: Like “We are the world”?
Wes: YES! Exactly, that was the idea. Like a backwards/sarcastic “We are the World.” And that’s what it was.
Ty: Ok, Rob, we’ll move the spotlight over to you. How did you come into the mix when the situation with (former drummer), Ethan, went down, and they were searching for a new drummer?
Erica: Rob’s our hero for stepping in.
Rob: I’ve known Wes for quite a long time from being in different bands, and he had ended up being in different band with (former HHS drummer) Ethan previously, and then Ethan had to go out of town so he had called me on a Tuesday to play a show on a Friday so I had came in with two rehearsals. I mean I had just gotten the cd on Tuesday, rehearsed Wednesday and Thursday, and played Friday. It seemed to go fairly well. After that, Ethan played with Here Holy Spain. Eventually, Ethan left the band, and Wes and I were living together at the time. That led to him asking me to fill in for a show that they had coming up. Being a victim of circumstance, we lived together, I had played with him before, I liked him and like the group, so it just kind of worked it out.
Ty: Rob, I know that you play drums in some other bands. How hard is it to juggle playing in HHS, and the other acts that you’re involved in?
Rob: Well, it gets tedious at times. I’m only one guy, but I’m playing in 4 to 5 bands at a time whether it be a steady band that I’m playing or a band where I’m just a fill-in drummer so it gets hard especially when there are those nights where I have to play two shows. I was in that situation one of the times I played with Wes before joining this band. I don’t like being looked at as a “fill-in”, because I feel like I’m a part of this band. I mean, I’m not a “fill-in”. I’m just a guy that’s in way too many bands.
[Everyone laughs]
Rob: [Laughing] On that note, I never set out to be in a bunch of bands. I mean I never said I’m going to be in as many bands as I can and I don’t really do it for a paycheck because we all play rock and roll and we know it doesn’t pay. That’s why I’m in a country band.
Ty: [Laughing] That should be on a t-shirt somewhere!
Rob: I mean I do have this tattoo right here that says “Rock and Roll never forgives”; it should say “Rock and Roll never pays.”
Ty: [Laughing] Man, that’s hilarious! So apparently they call you “The Heart-throb”. Are there any interesting stories on how that nickname came about?
Rob: The nickname comes from when I played a band called the The Doubledowns. We each had our regular names, but when we would each do our solos, our singer would introduce us and say stupid things like “this is our guitar player, Ace, he’s got the face” and stuff like that. So I didn’t really have a nickname and it was one of those deals where I had just met the guys before the show. Then this girl was like “That guy is playing in your band? He’s like a total Denton heart-throb” So I guess through being in other bands after that, it kind of followed. [Laughing] It’s kind of one of those names I’m trying to get away from.
Ty: [Laughing] My bad! Sorry about that, man.
Rob: No, it’s fine. It’s not the first time that I’ve heard that name tonight or the last.
Wes: When he walks into the bar, everyone is like, ”HEYYYY, HEART-THROB!!!” [Laughing]
Ty: I’ll just call you Rob from now on.
Rob: Man, it doesn’t make a difference, I mean at least it’s not “Rob, the snob” cuz that would be more accurate, or “Rob, the slob” which is still more accurate.
Wes: Dude, you could do the whole interview with this guy!
Ty: This next one’s actually for you, Wes. I’ve known you since when we met during the days when I was an intern at Kirtland Records and Sonar Management, and I can honestly say that you’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. What kind of reactions do you get when you meet people that you don’t know, and tell them that you’re the frontman in a loud, intense punk band?
Wes: Thank you, Ty! You know… I don’t think people get it until they see it. My immediate friends, they know. They know what kind of music I like, and it makes sense to them. But people that barely know me--that may, by chance, randomly come to a show--they are definitely surprised.
There’s a lot of frustration in these songs and there’s a lot of frustration in me. My general nature is to be kind and courteous, and I feel for people that are having hard times... I mean, I don’t want to add to that, you know? So I try to be the best I can and treat people the way I would want to be treated.
But there’s a ton of things that get me pissed off and riled up that I never react on. I’ve realized that it kind of comes out in these songs. I mean I just wrote a song called “I Wish You Would Just Die” … I would never honestly wish death upon anyone. But the song isn’t exactly about what it sounds like. It’s about a feeling of being a stranger in your own skin, feeling isolation when you should be feeling warmth… and how you wish that feeling would just die.
Rob: Just from living with Wes for probably 2 and half years here and there, he never really raised his voice at me and he never really approached me in an angry kind of way. When you first meet him, he’s really nice and polite. Trust me, I’ve done some sh** that other people would yell at me for, so I don’t know how he puts up with me. Maybe I’m just lucky, I don’t know. Maybe he’s plotting my death while I’m sleeping.
There are 2 things: on the one hand, it’s not so much that he holds a lot of stuff in, but there’s a lot of stuff that he needs to say out. The other part is that I look at this band as an indie rock or even a hardcore band, and I come from that same background. That being said, the one thing that I really look up to when seeing shows as a kid is seeing someone that is smart and educated, but can still scream and be raw. I mean, any a**hole can go on stage and yell “f*** this” and “f*** that.” And that is what drew me to playing in this band. Not only that it’s rock, it’s aggressive, it’s Wes, it’s Erica, but it’s also intelligent and genuine.
Ty: I totally agree with you on that. These next questions have to do with performing live. Wes, how does feel to going back and forth from working behind the scenes on tour with the Toadies, Old 97’s, Smile Smile, etc… to performing live with Here Holy Spain?
Wes: It feels great. These have been the best years of my life because I’ve been surrounded with music. I haven’t done anything else, I’ve either been at a show, working a show, or playing a show; literally, I was on tour with the Toadies for 3 weeks, I came home, and within hours I was playing a show at House of Blues Dallas with my own band. And that was… I mean, some people get freaked out and stressed out about that type of thing, but I thought it was the best thing in the world, you know because I was doing exactly what I wanted to do; and we got to play so many shows with the Toadies, I mean, we got to cross paths where it was really perfect. I loved it. Now, while the Toadies are taking a breather, it gives us more time to focus on what we’re gonna do as far as writing more stuff.
Ty: Well, back on that same subject, one Toadies show you guys opened for that I remember was a big deal was at Stubb’s in Austin, summer of 2008; Tell me about that experience.
Erica: For me, it was kinda scary. This is the first band that I’ve been in where I’ve played out a lot; and when we got offered the show with the Toadies we had only played here and there in front of 20 or 50 people. 2 days before or a week before the Stubb’s show, we played a show in Tyler, Texas at Click’s with Toadies and the Riverboat Gamblers; there were 350 people there, the place was sold out, and I was nervous wreck.
I get nervous before every show anyway, and since I hadn't played any big shows at that time, I was like, “Oh my god, there are so many people here!” Then we get to Stubb’s, get on the outdoor stage, and all of a sudden there are 2,200 people there. This was also the 7th show we played as a band. I mean, we had played less than 10 shows and we opened for the Toadies twice. I'll be forever grateful to those guys for helping us out early on and for their continued help and support. So we get out there, and I turn around and look at the crowd, and I was thinking “Oh god! This is too much!” but it was great. It made me more comfortable as a player, and also helped solidify my relationship with this band and these songs. I don’t get as nervous anymore either because the experience of playing to crowds like that came so early in playing with this band.
Ty: Very cool! Wes, I know that you and Vaden (Todd Lewis) of the Toadies are good friends. Tell me about your friendship with him and the impact he’s made on your life.
Wes: For readers that don't know... I work as the guitar tech and sometimes tour manager for the Toadies. I started working for Vaden off and on right out of high school in 2003, with his other band, Burden Brothers. When The Toadies decided to get back together, he gave me the word and I came along.
Now to the gushy stuff... Vaden is one of my closest friends. He is my main dude, and I'm honored to say so. Not because of "who he is" but because of who he is. He gets ME when a lot of people don't really, and I think he feels the same about me with him. We share a lot of the same morals, ideals, and humor... and I guess he's really been kind of my mentor in a way. It means more than the world to me that he digs my stuff... the guy is incapable of writing a bad song. His demos are proof of that. He invited me out to demo some new songs at his home studio, and we've been playing one live called "No Love." He seemed to really have fun with it and enjoy it where he could easily have just blown it off ... the fact he genuinely digs what we're doing is incredible. All of the Toadies, man. I have learned so much from them, whether about music or life in general. I feel immense gratitude to have them as friends. Shit, Rez even sat in on drums with us for our new Christmas single, "God-Damn This Christmas"! To have their blessing is awesome and every night I watch them play I feel lucky that my job has been what it has been. That band and crew are my family, and if they read this they're totally going to lay a grandma joke on me for getting so sentimental!
Ty: You’re probably right! Oh, I almost forgot to ask, what was it like to open for Chuck Ragan, of Hot Water Music?
Erica: Chuck Ragan! Best day of my life!
Wes: Like she said, best day of my life; that guy is my hero and he loved our band. I mean, he genuinely loved our band.
Erica: You know, you’re always worried about seeing Superman without his cape. Basically, if I had met Chuck Ragan and he was an a**hole, it would have ruined a lot of memories I associate with his music. I hate that my brain works like that, but it's happened before when I've met band members who are jerks. But Chuck Ragan was great, I mean… it couldn’t have been better. We’ve actually been lucky enough to play with bands that are way better than us. I mean I used to listen to the Toadies when I lived in Canada, where I grew up, but I had never seen them live. And now we’ve gotten to play with them multiple times, and the Riverboat Gamblers, Chuck Ragan, Girl in a Coma, and now Jello Biafra. We’ve been a band for less than two years, and we’ve been very lucky to play some of the shows that we’ve gotten to play.
Ty: I know that you guys like to have fun. Any funny stories or recent shenanigans with HHS?
Rob: The snuggie thing was pretty cool.
Erica: The snuggie thing was not cool! They made me play [bass] in a snuggie!
Wes: Yeah, we all wore snuggies for a show one time, and it was awesome!
NOTE*(Wes would like to edit this section and thank Weezer for ‘snugging it out’ on Letterman a week later. R.I.P. “Polyphonic Spain & the Here Holy Snuggies”)
NOTE*(Wes would like to edit this section and thank Weezer for ‘snugging it out’ on Letterman a week later. R.I.P. “Polyphonic Spain & the Here Holy Snuggies”)
Ty: Here Holy Spain in snuggies… I love it. Well, I guess to wrap things up, you guys have a show tomorrow at The Prophet Bar (Oct. 29th). Tell me about the other bands on the bill?
Erica: Yes, we’re excited!
Wes: The show is with Jello Biafra who is the singer for Dead Kennedys. He has a new band called Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine. I’m excited about it because I’m a big Dead Kennedys fan and I’ve heard a little bit of Mojo Nixon and liked it so I’m just stoked to see what it’s gonna be all about. The other band, Free to Kill Again, is a band my friend used to play in years ago. We’re really excited and it should be a good time.
So that does it for my interview with Here Holy Spain, and I don’t think that I could have picked a better band to have my first interview with. They were even cool enough to let me rock out with them on drums for their song, Grace, which is also available here on Exploding In Sound’s Bands You Need to Know in 2009. It was awesome getting to play a song with them, but I did leave with one minor casualty: a bloody finger cut from one of Rob’s crash cymbals:
That’s the chance that you take with playing in a band like Here Holy Spain. I guess it’s like Rob’s tattoo says, “Rock and Roll never forgives...”
I did make it to the Prophet Bar the next night to catch their show with Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, and it did not disappoint. Just like their practice session the night before, it was a amazing performance filled with intensity and aggression fused with emotion and melody . Between songs, there was some humorous crowd interaction, but during each song, Wes, Erica, and Rob were completely independent of the crowd and everything around them; it was just them and the music. After they finished their set, they were greeted and complimented by friends and fans including Vaden Todd Lewis, Mark Reznicek, and Doni Blair from the Toadies who made a special stop from their tour just to see their performance.
If you claim to like rock music, Here Holy Spain is band that you should be listening to. The only direction they can go is up, and they aren’t showing any signs of slowing down.
I want to thank Wes, Erica, and Rob for taking the time to sit down with me for this interview. I also want to thank Dan Goldin for giving me the opportunity to contribute to Exploding In Sound. Here Holy Spain’s debut album, Manic, is available in stores now and on Itunes.
[editor's note: Snuggie photo comes courtesy of Hilary Holcomb, Vaden & Wes photo courtesy of Jason Janik.]
MORE PICTURES AFTER THE JUMP...
Posts
1 comments:
HAHAHA! Hilarious! Totally captured what these guys are about. Great interview!
Post a Comment