he Daily Lobo sat down with core members of the local band Spiritu, lead singer Jadd Schickler, bassist John Bess and guitarist Chav, Tuesday to discuss its self-titled debut CD, as well as the band's past, present and future.
Unfortunately, Kenny Heiner, the band's drummer, was unavailable as he was out making the world a safer place for us all by installing home alarm systems.
Daily Lobo: For your first major CD you got to work with Jack Endino, who is a legend in many circles due his work with Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney.
What was it like working with a legend in the industry?
JB: It was cool. Jack was a mellow guy. He knew what he was doing, and knew music, past, present, you know, everything. It was very humbling.
Chav: It was taxing because we only had two days to record and one day for him to mix down. We drove up to Seattle - basically packed up, drove up there, got in the studio and came back. It was a lot of pressure to be in front of a guy like that.
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It really put you in your place when you're trying to record an album and he's worked with all these great musicians.
JS: But he didn't have any big attitude or anything like that. He worked with all those bands before they were big.
JB: He just loves music, and that's the best thing. He just loves music and being in the studio.
Chav: And a great ear, the guy could hear everything, just every little tiny thing. It was like 'OK sorry I didn't mean to do that.'
JB: Another thing I really loved about Jack is that a lot of studios listen to everything through high-end monitors in this multi-million dollar studio and that's what they go by.
He based everything on how good is this going to sound through your crappy car-stereo, and how he could make this album sound great for everyone who is going to buy it.
DL: How do you write songs?
JB: We fight.
Chav: A good family brawl.
JB: Chav brings in a lot of riffs, he writes a lot of good stuff. Sometimes he'll have stuff that flows together and sometimes . not long ago he brought in a whole song.
Chav: Yeah, but then it's always everyone [writing]. I may bring something to the table but by the time it's done, its like he has [Jadd] what he needs to be changed.
He [John] has what he has. Kenny has what he has. It doesn't ever stay the same. It's ripped apart until we all can agree that's what were going for, or that's what we want. It goes through many different drafts.
JS: Yeah, frustrating, piss-me-off drafts, but you have to be pretty thick-skinned in this band. You can't hold on to what you think your ideal is.
Everyone really serves the song. We try to make the best songs we can make, and sometimes that means playing something you may not want to play or playing a part twice as long as you think it needs to be. But it's all about the song in the end.
Chav: We just wonder because, you know, people who don't play a particular instrument chime in on what those instruments should sound like.
JS: Not just me! Are you kidding he's [Kenny] the one who pointed out the vocal melody problem the other day.
Chav: That's true.
JS: But I was like, okay, I can take it. Kenny doesn't sing, but if hears something that sounds weird with something I'm doing then he's damn right to tell me because I may not notice it otherwise. We all do that.
JB: And sometime it's like, "Yeah all right, it's fine."
JS: Three of us agree and one person is finally, "All right! Next!"
Chav: And we've also gotten to the complete end - finishing a song - only to play it for two more weeks and realize that the song is really not good enough. And we just drop it. We've dropped plenty of songs.
DL: When did you all know that music is what you wanted to do?
Chav: I've always been a fan of music since I was a little kid, and have always listened to music and loved it.
But I can't really think of anything in particular, other than being the only little kid at a grown-up party, that when they were all drinking upstairs sitting around, I was listening to Black Sabbath with all the adults and getting busted by my dad.
JB: I remember when I was 11, lying in bed listening to crappy pop radio of the 80's and always hearing the bass lines. And you know you always hear the same songs every single day on pop radio, so I would just memorize the bass lines.
And I knew that's what I wanted to do but it took a long time to convince my parents to buy one.
They got me a guitar and I nailed bass strings into it. Yeah, they bought me an acoustic guitar and I ripped all the strings off and nailed bass strings into the body.
DL: Wow, that's like a "MacGyver" bass, right there.
JB: Totally. I got in trouble for that, man.
Chav: Yeah! I would have been pissed.
JS: What the fuck? We buy you a new guitar and you nail bass string into it?
JB: I said I asked for a bass.
JS: Ungrateful little kid.
DL: What do you all think of the pop dominance going on right now, with Britney Spears and N'Sync?
Chav: Mmm, Britney Spears . . .
JB: With the volume off, mmmm. It's always going to go on. That's what makes pop popular. It's safe, it's easily accessible. I listened to it when I was young because I didn't know any better, but I'm sure if I was 11 listening to Black Sabbath my dad would have probably shot me.
But the difference is that pop crap even back then was at least played by musicians who wanted to write good music.
JS: Do Journey's pop songs fall into that category? Seriously?
JB: Yeah, old, old Journey when they turned that corner with the crappy Steve Perry.
It was still music, they were still playing music and it wasn't synthesizers, and stealing other people's beats, and having this formula of "if we put this with that we can sell six million copies in eight months and so therefore everything needs to fit this plan."
Chav: And it's got to be three-and-a-half minutes so they'll play it on the radio. Or else it's a lost cause. Which on our album there's like one song that's almost four minutes and that's it.
JB: And to that end, we're all getting liposuction and cheek implants.
DL: Oh, that ought to help you a lot. The big question for any band. Where do you see yourselves in five years?
Chav: In Britney Spears!
JB: I'll second that.
Chav: Still just playing music that I love, having a good time and rocking.
JS: Yeah, preferably playing for more people. But if not, oh well.
Chav: Bringing more people to good, heavy rock and roll like it should be. Just getting down.
JB: And convincing people that, one they don't need to take the crap that mainstream radio tries to shove down their throat, and two, that
The Strokes are not fucking rock and roll!
Spiritu's self-titled debut album is available through MeteorCity at www.StonerRock.com, and through its Web site at www.riffrock.com/spiritu.
