INTERVIEW WITH THE EXPENDABLES
The Pier was fortunate enough to sit down with all four members of The Expendables just before the band’s sound check to prepare for that night’s show in Seattle. The guys from Santa Cruz, have been on the road non-stop in recent times and are gearing up for the release of its fourth album. Coming out 4th of Sept, the self-titled effort will be the first album that is non-Slightly Stoopid released by Stoopid Records into stores. This gave The Pier and The Expendables plenty to chat about and more. Here’s the Q&A that followed.
The Pier: How’s the tour been going? What’s it been like playing shows with Authority Zero and The Supervillains?
Raul Bianchi (guitar): It’s been awesome. This has been the first time touring with either of these bands and we have gotten really close, really fast. We are having a lot fun together when the shows have been good and when the shows have been crappy we have been just having as much fun.
The Pier: You have been touring a lot more this recent year or so.
Raul: Ever since late 2005 we have been touring nationally and been on the road ever since. We quit our day jobs and have been doing this full time.
The Pier: Are you all still getting along pretty well? Not getting on each other’s nerves yet I hope?
Raul: We have known each other for so long and hey we have always got on each other’s nerves. It’s short-lived though, you get over it fast enough.
The Pier: So do you miss your home town, Santa Cruz, when you are away or is it nice to have a break from the place?
Geoff Weers (vocals/guitar): It’s nice to get a break from the place and get away from Santa Cruz, but I do miss it when I am on the road.
Raul: Yeah once you get home you always get a little edgy to get back out on the road, so it’s a little bit of both.
The Pier: So let's talk about the new album. It has been what, almost three years between albums? Is it nice to finally get a new product out there?
Geoff: It has been way too long and we apologize to the fans. There have been circumstances out of our control for the delay.
Ryan Demars (bass): And we started touring a lot…
Geoff: Yeah that made it take a lot longer. This is the first album where we actually split it up between studios, producers and recording it at different times. This whole recording process took us a year and a half, off and on in the studio and in-between tours.
Ryan: Sometimes we recorded on tour.
Geoff: Yeah I had to do a couple of vocal tracks in the hotel rooms. This approach was a first for us.
Raul: The first three albums were all personally financed by us, so we had limited budget and limited time. We also weren’t really sure of the recording process, yet everything was pretty much done by ourselves. We would go in and cut a block a time where we had to get it finished in that time. So that’s how we did it in the past and how it was different from this new one.
The Pier: You worked with producer Chris D (G Love & Slightly Stoopid) on this album. What was it like working with him?
Raul: He is probably the most fun producer to ever work with. He is so laid back and you feel completely at ease. He is always telling jokes and making you feel comfortable, we had a lot of fun working with Chris D for sure.
The Pier: So was he there for all the recording sessions?
Raul: Yes, I’d say pretty much 99% of the album was with him, all of the sessions but one.
The Pier: So how does the finished product sound? Are there any surprises on there or was there any new inspirations?
Geoff: It’s gotten a little heavier I would say.
Raul: Yeah the album on a whole is heavier.
Geoff: We have always played reggae and rock or metal and I think the metal has got a little more metal-y.
(Everyone laughs)
Geoff: If that makes any sense?
Raul: More metal-y?
Geoff: I don’t know.
Ryan: I totally agree with what you are saying, more metal-y is fine.
Geoff: Yeah it is a lot heavier and we were a lot more intricate in our guitar playing. Raul has turned into a guitar god.
Ryan: It’s also a bit more mature sounding than our previous releases I think.
Raul: Yeah it is the most mature stuff we have ever done as far as the music side of it goes, with our playing, technique and the progressions we have done.
The Pier: So to go into that heavier direction, was that a conscious decision or something that naturally occurred?
Raul: I think the way we write music reflects whatever we are listening to at the time. What we feel like playing is what comes out. The way we write is the same way. If it sounds good and we enjoy it when we are playing together, we go that way with the song. We don’t sit down and pick out styles for the album.
Geoff: As a whole and as musicians individually I think we are getting better. So we can step out on a limb a little more and try some more difficult things with the music.
The Pier: You have a few guest appearances on this new one, tell us a bit about them.
Geoff: We got Miles from Slightly Stoopid and C-money from Slightly Stoopid on there and OG from Stoopid. So yeah pretty much half of Slightly Stoopid is on there. G-Love’s keyboard player, Mark Boyce, plays keys on a lot of the tracks.
Raul: It was great to get him and I can’t believe the work he did on that and from a hotel room. All those guys are fantastic musicians so it was great to watch them work.
Geoff: It certainly makes our album sound a lot more full, with all the different little new sounds in there.
The Pier: You will be able to get this new album in stores. Are you excited about going into a store in Seattle, New York or where ever and seeing your CD there?
Raul: Yes, Sept 4th. This is our first album with national distribution; previously all our albums were sold through shows or cdbaby.com and iTunes. So we are pretty excited.
Ryan: Or going someplace and dropping off two CDs for consignment.
(few laughs)
Geoff: I guess you could call this our first real CD. The first were minor league fakes.
The Pier: Are there any specific songs that you are really happy with the way they turned out for this album?
Adam Patterson (drums): We have had a lot of these songs for a long time. So it is just good to get them out on something other than just bootlegs.
Raul: We have been playing quite a lot of new stuff, but we are really excited for the album to come out so we can play a lot more new songs from the album opposed to just a couple because most the fans haven’t heard them.
The Pier: I have got to say your XXX rated DVD is one of the most entertaining music DVDs I own. It has everything. Were you comfortable with the world seeing the band in such an intimate state?
(all heads go down)
Ryan: Like our balls?
(big laughs)
Ryan: There are parts of the DVD I love and there are parts that I hate.
Raul: It’s embarrassing. We tried putting it on the other day just to see what we actually had on there and we couldn’t watch it.
Geoff: Yeah, though I think it is put together really well.
Raul: I would say I don’t want my parents to see it, but I don’t care if anyone else sees it.
Ryan: Yeah, my parents were at the premiere so that was a little awkward.
Raul: I deliberately gave my parents the wrong day.
Ryan: I think if we do another DVD it would be better if we had more control over what was on the DVD.
Adam: I think the next one we do will be more of a live show and with some of that crazy shit mixed in. It will be a little different. Not so much on the road camera following us around. More of a show.
Raul: We are a little more tame these days because we have DVD players on the van, so we don’t have to keep ourselves occupied with our own stupid antics. We just watch movies and fall asleep.
Geoff: And our friends don’t come with us anymore.
Raul: Yeah, we don’t do two day trips anymore it’s more like two months, so our friends don’t have the time to get off work.
Geoff: They have moved up in the world and have jobs.
Raul: Yeah, everyone is growing up except for us.
The Pier: Speaking of friends, you have always helped each other out in terms of Shaun Logan’s artwork, Sammy Olson’s photography, Donavon as the band’s manager. It must be satisfying to see how all of you have helped each other and what success has come from that?
Raul: Especially Shaun we are just holding that guy back. He is really talented and we know someday he is going to leave us. He has done every single album and every t-shirt for us except for one.
The Pier: As we were saying about the DVD it is so intimate and personal, so do you have fans constantly approaching you like they already know you?
Raul: It’s hard to tell, as a lot of times I have had people come up and talk to me by name and I won’t know them. I don’t know if I am suppose to know them or if I have met them before. It’s just that they saw the DVD so they say ’Hey Raul, what’s up?’ I usually just say ‘hey man’, and pretend to know who they are and fight through the awkward pauses.
The Pier: So what have you got coming up after this current tour?
Raul: We have two and a half weeks off after this tour at home and then we go on tour with Pepper for about two months. Then we have a Xmas break before we go on more tentative tours in the works through Jan to March. So we are going to be pretty busy for the next 6-8 months.
The Pier: I have heard rumors that there is going to be a second Silverback Festival (Expendables, Stoopid, Pepper and Fishbone management). What can you tell me about it?
Adam: There is always rumors, though I have heard there is going to be another one. There should be as there is a lot of talent in the Silverback family. So they might as well do another festival, it would be fun.
Raul: We always know last so we are not the right people to ask.
(few laughs)
With the Q&A concluded, the conversation continues to cover a few Seattle specific topics. For example, like how the last venue the band played at in town, Studio Seven, is located in the middle of nowhere and primarily features death metal bands. Of course the guys really liked that.
The Pier would like to thank The Expendables for its time and the band's manager Donavon for hooking the Q&A up. Make sure you pick up a copy of the new album out in stores Tues 4 Sept.
To find out more about The Expendables check out: