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Last Hurrah Magazine - Japan - August 2001 |
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Interview with John Paul Keith Tomoo Yamaguchi - Last Hurrah Magazine - Japan - Aug 2001
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How did you feel when you debuted
as Stateside finally through The V-roys and The Nevers? Did you
feel that you found out your own place? I am very happy with Stateside and
very excited to finally have a CD available for sale to the public.
It is very satisfying to finally be able to play these songs for
people. I definitely think
Stateside is the best thing I've done. What
idea did you have when you formed Stateside? Did you dare to make
your new band different from The V-roys and The Nevers? I was in
The V-roys a long time ago. At
the time, I was very interested in country music from the 50's and 60's
like Hank Williams. But
since then, I have become interested in many different kinds of music,
and I wanted Stateside to show that.
You
left from The V-roys because the band aimed for roots rock, didn’t
you? What idea did you have when you formed The V-roys with Scott
Miller? When I
formed the V-roys with Scott Miller, I was very young, and we were
primarily interested in country music of the past, like Roger Miller.
However, I eventually began to write songs that were influenced
by many other kinds of music, and I wanted to have the musical freedom
to try any style. Some of
the songs I began writing did not exactly fit in with the V-roys sound. So I decided to leave the band and start my own, which I
eventually did in The Nevers. It
all worked out for the best, because Scott's new record, Thus Always
to Tyrants is fantastic, and The Faults have a really great album
too. Did you
wear a black suits in The V-roys? Yeah, we
wore dark suits in The V-roys. Roger
Miller album covers were an influence on our look, as well as the early
Beatles. At the time we
were doing that (early to mid-90's), grunge was very popular and we
wanted to look different from all the grunge bands, who had long hair
and wore sloppy clothes. But
it's hard to keep a suit clean if you're in a rock band.
They tend to get drinks spilled on them and get lots of cigarette
burns. Why did
you move to Nashville from Knoxville after leaving from The V-roys? I left
Knoxville mainly because I was born there and lived there all my life.
I was ready for a change. Nashville
was close enough to home (3 hour drive), and there is a lot of music
here. They don't call it
Music City for nothing. Knoxville
has produced a lot of good rock bands. For example Superdrag, The
V-roys, Scott Miller, The Faults and of course you. What is
Knoxville like? Is the rock scene prosperous there? Knoxville
is a wonderful place and my heart will always be there, no matter where
I'm living. For such a
small city, it has produced an amazing amount of talent.
Over the years that part of the world has produced Chet Atkins,
Roy Acuff, Dolly Parton, Carl Smith, and of course, the bands you
mentioned. There is also
R.B. Morris, whom I call "the poet laureate of Knoxville", and
Brian Waldschlager. Knoxville
is very unique; on one hand it is very modern because the University of
Tennessee is located there, but at the same time it is very old
fashioned, and when you walk down certain streets you get the feeling
that it is 1935. I've never
seen another city like it anywhere.
I'm proud to be a Knoxvillian. I
looked forward to The Nevers’ debut album. But Sire Records
didn’t release it. After that why did The Nevers break up? I enjoyed
being in The Nevers, and we're all still great friends.
But our troubles with Sire Records were terrible, and it took a
couple of years from our lives. Eventually our contract came up for
renewal and we decided not to renew it, since it was apparent that the
record was not going to come out. Some
of the Nevers wanted to get married, and do other things, so we decided
to split up. But it was a fun band to be in, and they're all great
musicians. (Sire did
eventually release a song by The Nevers, on the soundtrack to a movie
called Drop Dead Gorgeous. The
song is called "Watch You Sleep"). Do you
have any ideas to release The Nevers album? We
have no plans to release The Nevers album.
Many of The Nevers songs were re-recorded by Stateside on Twice
as Gone. Why was
The Have Nots a masked project? That is to say The Have Nots was
different from what you primarily wanted to do, right? The Have
Nots was a record we made just for fun.
We were sitting around waiting for The Nevers record to come out,
so we decided to record some of my old country songs from my days in The
V-roys. It was a
"masked project" just because we thought it would be funny if
we didn't tell anyone it was us. But
also, I didn't want to confuse anyone into thinking that I was only an
"alternative country" songwriter. What
made you listen to rock n roll? The
electric guitar. From a very young age I was drawn towards electric
guitarists like Chuck Berry and Angus Young.
Rock and roll is the best kind of music for electric guitar.
What
kind of music were you into at first? I
grew up as a child hearing old country music, but when I was a teenager
and began playing the guitar, I became interested in rock and roll,
especially hard rock like AC/DC , Led Zeppelin and even bands like
Motley Crue. When I was
around 17 or 18, I became interested in playing the country music I grew
up on, as well as Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Bob Dylan and The Beatles.
That is when I was in The V-roys.
After I moved to Nashville, I became influenced by The Who, The
Kinks, The Rolling Stones, and The Small Faces, as well as current bands
like Supergrass. When I
formed Stateside, I decided I wanted to incorporate all of the
influences and phases I had gone through, from country to hard
rock to British pop to soul music to modern alternative rock.
Stateside is a mixture of all of these sounds, in my opinion. You
play at Pink Hearts with Ryan Adams as guitarist, right?
How did you get to know Ryan Adams? How do you like him as
a musician? I met Ryan
Adams about a year ago. He
moved to Nashville and we were introduced to each other.
He was putting together a band and asked me to play guitar in it.
I was still trying to form Stateside, but I didn't have the
lineup together yet. So I
agreed to be in The Pink Hearts, but only until I got Stateside up and
running. Now that the
Stateside CD is out, I have left The Pink Hearts in order to devote all
my time to Stateside. You say
you like three-minute songs, please let me know the titles of your
favorite songs. I have a
lot of favorite songs. "In
My Life" by The Beatles. "Positively
4th Street" by Bob Dylan. "You
Shook Me All Night Long" by ACDC.
"You Got Lucky" and "Southern Accents" by Tom
Petty. "Baby I'm
Yours" by Barbara Lewis. "Weary
Blues From Waiting" by Hank Williams.
My favorite song of the 90's would be "Everlong" by Foo
Fighters. “You
Were Made For Me” was
released as a song of Have Nots. Are there anysongs from V-roys,
Nevers and Have Nots on Twice As
Gone? Yes, you
are correct: a different version of "You Were Made For Me" was
released as The Have Nots on a Swedish compilation.
The reason we took it off The Have Nots album, however, is that I
decided it was a good pop song and that it should be on the Stateside
album. The Stateside record
is mostly songs from The Nevers, with a few new ones.
Since we finished Twice as Gone, I have written almost
another record of entirely new songs, some of which were co-written with
Stateside's guitarist Adam Landry, and I am very excited about recording
them soon. I'm already
planning the next Stateside record.
It will be heavier and more modern than "Twice as
Gone", and all the songs on it will be brand new. Since
Nevers broke up in 1999, you seemed nothing to do except Have Nots.
Did you need any time seeking your band’s members? Yes, it
took me about a year to form Stateside and to finish Twice as Gone. Also, I was doing side projects like The Have Nots, as well
as playing with Ryan Adams. Just
before Twice As Gone is
released, you changed your band’s name toStateside. I think that
means you want to emphasize your band (not your back band). How
much are you satisfied the band’s lineup? Yes, I do
want to emphasize Stateside as a band, specifically an American rock
band. In the US, it is very
hard for male singer-songwriters to get any attention if they only use
their own name. People here
just aren't interested in solo artists for some reason. There
are some exceptions, like David Gray.
But most, like Ryan Adams, are not famous in America.
Most people who don't read music magazines have never heard of
him. He's not on the radio.
The biggest things in America right now are Limp Bizkit, N’Sync,
and Coldplay. I decided
that if I wanted to have any success in America, I should come up with a
band name. You
like Foo Fighters, don't you? Do you usually check out new music
like Hip Hop music or Rap Metal? What do you think these kinds of
music? Yes,
I love the Foo Fighters, especially The Colour and The Shape.
I don't like hip hop or rap metal.
I think the new Weezer record is fun.
My favorite recent album is Superdrag, In the Valley of Dying
Stars. Final
question. What is Stateside’s target? Stateside's
goal is to make the best music we possibly can, and for as many people
as possible to enjoy it. |
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