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Bugs Bunny. I always thought he had great problem-solving skills. Pull Elmer Fudd's hat down to his ankles, tweak him on the nose, kiss him on the lips with a really loud smacking noise, and run away. That's a really good way to handle conflict.
-Chris Barron on his role model
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Photo by Susan J. Weiand - 2005
People were putting up serious money for us to be in the studio. If you go in there and you know really firmly, "This is the borders of what I'm doing, this is the frame." You have it fleshed out; there's room to fly out of that, to say, "I'm getting musical inspiration, let's just go off in this direction." We went out to L.A., and we rehearsed in a way that we had never rehearsed before. We did ten days of playing from ten in the morning until eight at night, ten hours a day just pounding away.
Matt was brilliant. He made us play everything acoustically: Aaron would be slapping his lap instead of playing the drums, Mark would have a teeny tiny amplifier, and Eric was on an acoustic guitar singing. Rock bands tend to hide behind their instruments. Matt wouldn't let us plug in until the song was really happening. He wasn't afraid to take the best part of a song and make it happen five times. We'd have a really cool idea for an outro, and he's like, "OK, that's the chorus now." It was such a cutthroat style of songwriting, and it really works.
You could tell he was imagining the song not only in the studio but onstage. Is this gonna work in a theatre, a stadium, a baseball game? He's so mellow, he's like a sieve. Whatever kind of tension came up went through him and down the drain. He didn't need to referee because he spread this vibe. Whatever was going on ended at him. We trusted him. He triangulated the communication.
This is a classic Spin Doctors record, but it's got a very current sound and contemporary production values. It expands to show more of us - windows into what we're all about that people have never had the opportunity to look through.
Spin Doctors :: 2005 by Michael Warring |
We are absolutely ready to tour, probably in the Spring. I don't think we could tour the way we did in the old days though. We were famous for being total road dogs, and that kind of touring is not feasible. We all have kids now, I have a family.
There's also talk of a reality show VH1 wants to do with us. They'd drop us in a city, and we'd have 24 hours to publicize a show. I have very serious reservations. I don't see myself in that kind of a light. I enjoy them (reality shows), but I'd rather be on the outside of the goldfish bowl.
GK: What was the first record you remember loving?
CB: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer really blew my mind because I got teased as a kid and I identified with Rudolph. The other reindeer laughed and called him names too, but in the end, he went down in history.
GK: Did you ever want to go back and say to those people, "Look where I am now?"
CB: Fame and success are a roller coaster that is fleeting in itself. It's not like I'm ruling the world at the moment. I'm doing these little shows at the Sidewalk Café, and I have this little record out that nobody knows about. I think that fundamentally those considerations are ephemeral. Fame and success come and go throughout your life. It really boils down to what type of a person you are. That doesn't go away. If I was being teased, I'm sure there must have been a grain of truth, some sort of ridiculousness that I was representing at the time.
GK: Who's your role model?
CB: Bugs Bunny. I always thought he had great problem-solving skills. Pull Elmer Fudd's hat down to his ankles, tweak him on the nose, kiss him on the lips with a really loud smacking noise, and run away. That's a really good way to handle conflict.
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