Interview with Brad
by Steve MacCan you tell us a little about how you first started on the drums, what early bands & projects you played in and if you ever thought you might be playing for a living in 3eb?
I really have to give my Dad a lot of credit for my interest in drums. He bought my brother a pair of sticks and made a little drum pad and I always liked when he tapped out some rhythms on the pad. I soon took those sticks out to the stereo, put on his Beatles records, and pounded on the carpet in front of the speakers.The drumming connection to rock music really happened on the way to a basketball game in 5th or 6th grade. The whole team was packed in this car and AC/DC "Highway to Hell" came on. When the drums dropped in after the guitar intro my teammate started air drumming. It was an epiphany of sorts about the power of rock drums and their relationship to other instruments in music. I went home, rummaged around in my closet, found the sticks again, and I literally took them everywhere with me after that.
I started playing with a guitar player friend of mine in 6th grade and continued putting bands together in junior high and high school. In College, I played with guys who were really trying to push the boundaries and it was a very open and creative scene when I was introduced to Third Eye Blind.
I never really thought about playing in a band that would be as successful and fortunate as 3eb. I only knew that I would seek out projects that were creative and challenging.
Are there any songs that you still feel challenge you live, maybe something on the setlist that makes you practice more beforehand or pay more attention to it during shows, Something that pushes you everytime?
As long as I am warmed up, and in relatively good touring shape, the parts are not difficult. I remember a tour where we opened with "Anything". I would be locked up by the end of the song because it was fast and I wasn’t loose yet.Surfing really helped me with drums. I was in Hawaii a few years ago and surfing beat me up pretty good. I started getting in better shape so I would not get so punk'd by the surfing. The worst thing you can feel as a drummer is tired or weak onstage.
We know that you play everything on record live, but have you ever thought about adding some electronics/programming to future recordings, similar to Water Landing's intro or maybe something that you couldnt do otherwise?
That is something we have done sparingly all the way back to semi charmed life and its percussion loop background. I am intrigued by that and have tried to incorporate a sampler more. It can be a fine line with electronics between really adding something and utterly aborting the life of a song with rigidity.Your drum solos during Jumper have been a show highlight for a while now, how much planning goes into them and how much of "the moment" takes over once youre up there?
Thanks Steve! I think being "in the moment" is the single most important aspect of performing. It’s easier said than done over the course of a tour but the drum solo is a pretty inspired moment for me during the show.The solo kind of evolved into a 3 part piece over the first part of this year. Depending on the type of room and the crowd, the solo changes from night to night. But, I generally start with an improv section, do some stuff with the sampler, and finish with a finale. I didn't really work it out in advance other than the sampler part, it just tends to morph as I develop something new to my playing or I find new sounds in the form of percussion or samples that I want to use.
Over the years youve managed to pick up quite a few instruments, including guitar and keyboards. do you have any projects or ideas lined up where you might start to write and produce your own music, away from 3eb & YLD?
I feel like its my duty to try and grow as a musician in any way I can whether its playing different instruments or even in other projects. LIke Lt. Raine said, "You know how to get to Carnegie Hall don't ya? Practice."In fact, I was just recently deleting old mail because my inbox was getting full and I found a bunch of score music I did for some short indie films. The music pleasantly surprised me and made me think about picking up another movie project at some point. I have been playing more guitar again lately. As you move between instruments, it really helps you see them in a new way which leads you in new musical directions.
Getting into my own stuff really involves being at home in my studio with all my gear available to me. That really has not been the case much of late.
I am really trying to focus on what is right in front of me at the moment, Ursa Minor, and putting everything into it.
Just Brad seems to be going really well for you, even managing to get some into the 3eb live act. Do you have any plans for a follow up to Crunkula or maybe something alittle more original?
You calling me unoriginal? :p Swirling in the back of my mind, I am trying to wrap my head around my true vision of Just Brad. Lately that involves taking snippets of music from Gramatik, Bassnectar,Glitch Mob, Pretty Lights and others, and combining them with samples I have been making, adding live drums and remixing it all live. The more underground stuff is really where my heart lies in the DJ world but that isn't necessarily party music.I have some new mash ups and when I get 23 of them I'll do another mix tape. I really only do mash ups to kill time on long plane rides.
To me, Just Brad is more about the challenge of physically integrating drumming and DJing(man vs machine) while also pursuing the art of DJing which to me is not as much what track you play, but when and how you play it.
With access to all the 3eb recordings, do you ever think about remixing any recent songs yourself? Either just for fun or because you know fans might apprecitate it?
I did a mash up with “Why Can’t You Be” that I liked. I always have my eyes peeled for a track. If the right song comes along, I would love to do a remix.You guys have your own studio up in San Francisco, how does recording in there differ from a rented studio? It must be nice to know that there isnt some record exec over your shoulder counting the time and cost.
We have never really had a record exec breathing down our necks but that would seem to be a real vibe killer.We have used different studios over the years from Blackbird in Nashville to Skywalker Ranch north of SF and those places are amazing. Variety is cool but its great to have a home base, especially when the home base is as dope as what Stephan has put together. Besides all the great gear, it has windows and tons of natural light, which keeps you from getting worn down.
You recently played and recorded Drums for Lee and Sonya (The Furies) in the studio, how was playing for someone else and would you like to have more bands come to the studio in the future to record?
I always like playing different music. I didn't even know I was doing that when I flew up from LA, so it was a fun to learn the song quickly and blast out a drum track for Lee.We know you guys are currently recording Minor there too, how has that been with 2 new guys (Abe & Kryz) around?
We really have gone back to the basics working on minor. We set up the instruments in a circle and just played music with each other again. In fact, last week, we were just blocks away from where we used to do the same thing back in 1995. I know it sounds obvious but we got away from doing that over the last few years. Abe and Kryz are extremely musical people with a lot of ideas so the creativity is flowing.I don't know whether it's all of us together in a room or the glorious iPad, but Stephan seems to be writing more lyrics than I can ever remember during these sessions.
How has it differed from the recording of Major? Its seemed like whatever was done at the time went on Major, where as Minor seems slightly more thoughtout with a wider variety of songs to choose from and even afew new ones.
Ursa Major's pre production really happened at sound checks while touring. With Ursa Minor, we have set aside time at home (and on vacation) to work on it as a band. When it comes to writing, there is a level of focus you can’t achieve out on the road. And we have tended to do little pre production for the last couple records and then get bogged down in tracking at times. I have tried to be a big proponent of pre production for this record and it has been really good so far.Album tracklistings for Major & Minor seemed to change like the wind, are there any songs that have been locked down for Minor that Stephan's happy with and you know are special or are you guys recording what you can, then picking what feels best at the time?
The list for minor keeps growing as we write new songs and add them to the list of songs that didn't go on Ursa Major. The plan is to have demos of all of them and put together a track list from that.I think Alright Caroline and Stevie Ray Vaughn are strong contenders from the older songs. A new song "Addicted" and a couple new SJ songs are looking strong right now. It is a very creative time right now and I just want to exhaust all the possibilities then start to whittle it down.
Kevin, Arion & Tony are all excellent musicians and brought alot to the band musically & in songwriting, what do Abe and Kryz bring to the band to build upon what those guys helped lay down?
Abe and Kryz are very much of that same ilk in that they are great instrumentalists and also very creative people yet in totally different ways. Kryz is a rocker and leans toward the artier side of things, 8 minute songs and such, while Abe is more of a classic style writer, with the ability to see a song in a deconstructed way and know what it needs.We are really finding out what they are bringing as we go through this process and it has been really good so far.
So far in 3eb you only have the one writing credit for OOTV's "Danger", Would you ever like to get involved in writing more or are you happy just bringing drums to the mix?
That is always a bit of a sticky situation for drummers in the music business and all my drummer friends complain about what they feel is the inequity of it all. "Danger" sticks out because the credits were done differently on that album and fortunately I have more credits than just that song. That being said, I am also happy to bring "just" drums to the mix.I look at it like I want to help make the best music and song possible, whether that means coming up with something unconventional or playing back beats on 2 and 4, or jamming, or introducing something I have programmed on the sampler, or maybe not even playing at all.
Recently 3eb have been playing all over the world, before booking shows do you (the band) pick the projected tour as a chance to sightsee, explore and use the destinations as a kind of "holiday" as well as play the shows?
Stephan and I have joked around about "lifestyle" tours over the last couple of years but we are really just playing the places we feel we should have been playing all along. The band is currently self-managed so the touring decisions are based on a lot more factors now. I think it is critical for everybody and particularly musicians to travel to different countries and have different experiences. It is too easy to stay in one place and get tunnel vision.Returning to the UK after 10+ years must of been a huge undertaking, what made you think about coming & at What point did you guys say "fuck it, lets play England?"
Those were fun shows and it was good to finally meet you out there Stevo! We had a great time playing in England early in our career and it is painful to think that we were talked out of playing there over the years. This last year has really been about playing places we believe are important for Third Eye Blind to play and defining success that way. Playing for 5000 people in London confirmed that belief while playing a smaller club in Berlin made us digger deeper in a totally different way.We actually recently said, "fuck it, let's play India". And we have something tentatively scheduled there for December hopefully.
Anybody know a promoter in S. Africa?
Third Eye Blind has had a kind of rebirth over the last year, very similar to how Gun's N Rose's are today where original members have moved on but the core & heart of the band still remains. Is it difficult when drawing in a new younger crowd to keep a perspective on the older long term fans or do you have to try your best to meet a happy medium, as 3eb fans can be quite intense & demanding?
Ouch, when it gets to Guns N Roses comparisons we need to evaluate what we are doing. That situation just seems a tad dreadful especially with Axl's latest Redding and Leeds fiasco. Axl has always been a different cat and more power to him. When Stephan starts requesting helicopter vortex shifting high above cities like Axl, we are going to have an intervention.Really, we started getting re energized around 2007 with the positive response to the 10 Years Down concert at the SF Fillmore.
In terms of our perspective of fans, we don’t think in terms of younger or older per se. We certainly are gratified to have new fans and are extremely humbled to have long time fans. We want people to like our music period. The way we did that in the past was to start by making music that was important to us personally. I think we feel that if you can't get there, no one else is going to believe it.
Once you finish recording Minor im guessing you'll hit the road to tour it, but after that what does the future hold for 3eb & yourself? Is there any plans for more music/tours? another album? or maybe even something you've been looking forward to doing yourself?
At this point, we just take it one album at a time. We will definitely tour and see where that leads us. You never know what doors will open up or which ones you will decide to walk through. I know we are having a good time just making music together.Finally, if you could claim one drumline from any song in the world as your own, what would it be & why?
I would like to have played "Won't Get Fooled Again" by the Who. Keith Moon captured the perfect balance between extremely creative ideas and a bombastic performance.Thanks for doing this Mr. Mac!