by Deborah J. Draisin
Alkaline Trio is founding member Matt Skiba
on lead vocals and guitar, Dan Andriano (replacing
original member Rob Doran) on bass and backup
vocals, and Derek Grant (replacing Mike Felumlee)
on drums. The 12-year old Chicago punk unit,
currently signed to Epic Records, are touring
machines whose shows always sell out seconds
after their presales commence. Skiba’s
sardonically humorous and angrily emotional
lyrics, showcased against a melodic wall of
sound, have truly resonated with a fan base
rife with fellow musicians and industry moguls,
as well as of punkers, headbangers and classic
rockers alike.
Alkaline Trio is been a band I’ve loved
for a while now, so I was pretty stoked when
Derek was kind enough to honor me with a kickass
telephone interview. Here’s what he
had to say:
Q: Hi, Derek, how are you this afternoon?
This is Deb from Jersey Beat.
Derek: I’m good! How are you doing today?
Q: Oh, wonderful. You are in Denver right
now; how are your allergies holding up?
Derek: I am doing actually really well. We
had the day off here yesterday, so we were
able to acclimate a little bit, which is good.
I think the altitude is more of a concern
than anything.
Q: Oh yeah, I have the same problem –
my ears always pop. Earlier in the year, Matt
had mentioned that you guys are looking to
work on some new material this year: how many
song ideas have you tossed around so far?
Derek: I would say that, collectively, we
probably have about nine songs together at
this time - three of which we’ve been
playing live and a few more which we’ve
actually had the opportunity to run over as
a band. Just sitting around on the tour bus
with some acoustic guitars, we’ve been
able to work out a couple of other ideas.
Q: That’s a new way of doing things
for you guys; usually you’re doing this
by IM, right?
Derek: Yeah, we record stuff at our homes
and then e-mail ideas back and forth. This
time around, we’ve been spending a lot
of time on the road, so we’ve been using
that time as best we can.
Q: Are you finding that’s a better way
to do it - is the writing going faster now?
Derek: Yeah, it seems to be a little bit more
swift, I guess, this way. It’s definitely
more fun to just throw around ideas, but ultimately
I think it’s going to be about the same.
Q: And how’s the crowd responding to
the new material so far?
Derek: Good! It’s a little weird, you
know, obviously, these being new songs, people
aren’t familiar with the lyrics, so
they just kind of stand there…
Q: (laughing) They stare at you…
Derek: Yeah, instead of jumping around and
singing along.
Q: That is an awkward break in the momentum,
isn’t it?
Derek: Yeah, but I really think it’s
beneficial to play the songs live before we
go into the studio, you know?
Q: I’m excited! Yeah, get a little groundwork
laid out so that when you go practice it again,
you kind of know where you want the songs
to head. Has there been any discussion at
all about maybe having Matt do a drum line
this round, or someday? He used to play drums,
right?
Derek: Yeah, I mean we all play different
instruments, and that’s certainly comes
into play to some extent when we’re
throwing ideas around; any one of us could
come up with a drum or guitar part - we definitely
have sort of a unique advantage in that regard.
As far as like recording anything, I don’t
think we’ve ever really talked about
it, but you know, it might be fun to one day
do something where Matt plays drums.
Q: Absolutely! What would you then pick up
if Matt played drums? Would you back him up,
or would you pick something else up?
Derek: I would probably just play bass or
sing.
Q: That would be cool!
Derek: Yeah! Yeah, it could be something different.
Q: Absolutely! I’ve always wanted to
ask a drummer this question: why do you think
some drummers are opposed to working with
a metronome?
Derek: They could be just afraid; a lot of
drummers have really bad meters. Any time
you play to a click track or metronome, you
know, it’s just going to show how bad
your meter is (laughing.)
Q: (laughing along) Oh, is that what it is?
Derek: I think that could be part of it; other
times it’s just a matter of wanting
the song to breathe a little bit. If it’s
too strictly regimented, I think a lot of
people are afraid it’s going to lose
the life. I’ve found over the years
that I’m able to play with a metronome
without following it too strictly. I can sort
of wander off and still be on track, so there
are definitely ways to do it.
Q: You actually were sort of looking for that
type of regimented sound with “Crimson;”
trying to do the opposite of what you had
done with “Mourning.” Were you
happier trying something new again for “Agony?”
Did you like that result?
Derek: Yeah, as far as drum performance is
concerned, “Agony and Irony” is
my favorite one. Everything from the set that
I used to the way that we mic’d it,
the way that it sounds to the way it was performed
is satisfactory.
Q: Do you have any thoughts about putting
the next album out “DYI” style,
seeing as how Epic is currently undergoing
surgery?
Derek: Well, that’s probably what’s
going to happen.
Q: Excellent!
Derek: Yeah, essentially we’ve parted
ways with Epic, and rather than go and look
for another label, we feel that it’s
probably best that we just go and do things
ourselves.
Q: That’s a really good approach, and
you probably could control the leaks better
that way!
Derek: Control is a huge factor. I mean, we’ve
always been fortunate with whatever label
we worked with in retaining quite a bit of
control over our music and the artwork and
whatnot, but there’s always somebody
else that, you know, puts their two cents
in. This way, we will have absolute control
over every aspect
Q: Yeah, I think everybody’s looking
to go back to basics, especially in the punk
world. For you, I know you said you like “Agony”
best as far as your drum work goes, but what
overall contribution are you most proud of
to date, maybe musically or otherwise?
Derek: I don’t know, I mean; I feel
like “Agony and Irony” was the
most collaborative work. The first record
that I played on was “Good Mourning”
and at that point, I was a little hesitant
to throw too many ideas out, because I didn’t
want to change the formula of the band.
Q: Is that difficult, to walk into an established
situation like that? I know you had known
one another for years, but is it awkward at
first?
Derek: It’s a little strange. I’d
spent a lot of time filling in for different
bands, so I’d become accustomed to learning
somebody else’s drum parts and just
sort of improvising off of that while not
getting involved in the creative process.
So, there was a period of adjustment when
I first joined the band, figuring out where
I fit in creatively. It turns out that I tend
to be a pretty good moderator between Matt
and Dan when it comes to a lot of the songs.
Q: I read a quote from Matt awhile back that
the band didn’t feel complete until
you got there.
Derek: And that’s flattering, to think
that that’s the case. Over the past,
let’s see, it’s been about eight
years now, we’ve learned how we all
figure into the big picture.
Q: Mm-hm. You had had some struggles with
arthritis a while back, is it being managed?
How do you manage it when you’re on
the road?
Derek: Well, it comes and it goes. It’s
never been diagnosed; I never went to see
a doctor or a specialist about it. I’ve
been playing drums since I was about two or
three years old; over that amount of time,
it’s going to have an effect on the
body. I got into doing yoga and stretching,
you know, just trying to do whatever I can
to condition my body.
Q: Does Tiger Balm help at all?
Derek: I’m sure it would; I’ve
never used it. I tend to stay away from things
like pain medication and stuff like that.
Q: That’s actually just menthol and
aloe. (editor’s note: it’s actually
menthol, camphor and eucalyptus.) It’s
a lotion; like an icy hot in without the pad.
Derek: Oh, okay! Well, I know we have some
with us; one of the guys in the crew has been
using it – I can always borrow his.
Q: There you go; a good suggestion for you!
So, you started playing drums really young
– do you have drummers in the family?
Derek: Yeah, my father was a drummer…
Q: There you go! So you were playing on his
kit when you were a kid.
Derek: Yeah! In fact, I started out by simply
hitting whatever I could hit, and then by
the time I was three or four years old, I
was sitting on his lap playing drums…
Q: That’s excellent!
Derek: Before I knew it, I had inherited his
old drum set (he had gotten a new one) and
I was sitting in with his band at bars, and,
you know, the rest was history.
Q: He must’ve been so psyched!
Derek: Oh absolutely! I loved performing from
an early age; my family would have yard sales
like once a summer; we would sort of clean
house. Obviously, people would come over to
look at and buy stuff - and I would set up
and perform for them. So, some of my earliest
performances were at like garage sales.
Q: (giggling) So, somewhere, somebody remembers
you sitting out on the lawn with a drum kit.
Derek: Yeah, that’s possible!
Q: You should find that old footage; that’d
be fun to see (Derek chuckles.) What’s
the most flattering thing you can recall a
fan (maybe a professional fan or a regular,
everyday fan) ever having said to any of you?
Derek: Without a doubt, the most flattering
thing that somebody can ever to say to you
is that your music saved their life. We’ve
been told that on a number of occasions, and
it’s always very flattering and very
humbling. People are pretty excited about
sharing their life stories with us and we’re
always listening with open ears. I think it’s
amazing that people want to share that type
of stuff with us. For all of us, growing up,
music helped us get through some tough times:
to think that something that we’ve created
has able to do that same thing for another
individual is one of the most powerful things.
Q: Absolutely! Have you had that experience
on the other side? Have you gotten to encounter
a hero of yours and just had your mind blown?
Derek: Sure, I mean: I’ve definitely
met most of my idols. Unfortunately, some
of those meetings were sort of disappointing,
you know? You find out that somebody wrote
a song that really spoke to you, and then,
when you talk to them about it, they’re
like “Oh, yeah…”
Q: I was wasted…
Derek: Yeah, yeah, or it didn’t mean
what you thought it meant, or something. There’s
definitely been some disappointing encounters
over the years, but hopefully people don’t
feel that way about us
Q: I don’t think they do; about you
guys, I’m always reading good things
– how nice you are to the fans, how
accommodating you are. It seems that bands
nowadays make a lot more of an effort than
the bands did maybe twenty years ago –
they were pretty untouchable.
Derek: Sure, sure; I think it’s just
that you’ve got to sort of change with
the times. I feel like people nowadays, especially
with the internet, everybody’s sort
of connected to everyone else; it’s
more, like, immediate. I think it really goes
a really long way to be personable and be
approachable.
Q: I think so; I think it leaves a much better
impression – and that person may only
get to see you once.
Derek: Yeah, I think the sort of rock star
posing of the…
Q: Eighties…
Derek: I think that served its purpose at
the time – and it’ll probably
come around again. Everything kind of works
in cycles, so…
Q: I hope not! There were some aspects of
it that were really cool, but then there were
a lot of aspects that were maybe not so good
and had a backlash.
Derek: Sure.
Q: Speaking of the internet, are you guys
on twitter? Everybody’s on twitter!
Derek: I’m on twitter and I think Dan
just got a twitter.
Q: Tell everybody how to get in touch with
you!
Derek: Well, my twitter name (and I’m
pretty new to it, so I don’t really
know all the ins and outs of it) is dgrantdotcom,
all spelled out.
Q: Oh, that’s cute!
Derek: I try to post once a day and maybe
a picture from the show – maybe the
marquee or the inside of the venue. If we
go out to a bar afterwards, sometimes I’ll
post where we’re hanging out at in the
hopes that people will come and hang out.
Q: That’s excellent; I think that’s
exactly what people want to see – and
maybe random musings here and there.
Derek: Sure!
Q: Would you like to tell people once and
for all what emo is, so that they’ll
stop incorrectly labeling everybody?
Derek: I’ve been wondering the same
thing! When I was growing up, there was a
band from DC called Rites of Spring and everybody
talked about this band being “emo”
– being this emotional indie rock, post-punk
band or whatever. To me, the band didn’t
sound that much different than like Joy Division
or any of the other sort of post-punk stuff
that was coming out of the UK at the time.
So, I really didn’t understand what
it meant, but all of a sudden, a lot of the
local bands that grew up in Detroit started
forming bands that were based on that sort
of sound, but with more of a hardcore background.
Before I knew it, everybody was in an emo
band. Then the term sort of died off at some
point – like I didn’t hear it
for years – and then the media got a
hold of it and started labeling various bands
as being emo. For me, when I think emo, I
still think Rites of Spring, which, you know,
they were a band for like two or three years
at the most, and then two of the members went
on to be in Fugazi. So, it’s hard for
me to think of any other bands as being emo
– that term, for me, is sort of restricted
to a very particular time and place. I can
understand why the media or the masses would
grab onto that term to sort of classify bands
that…I don’t know, I guess emote
more than other bands? Or maybe talk more
about personal heartache and scenarios than
like your typical songs about girls and whatnot,
you know?
Q: Mm-hm.
Derek: So yeah, I don’t really understand
it myself, as you can tell; because I’m
struggling to identify it.
Q: I think the point that we’re establishing
is that emo is a specific type of music, and
it has nothing to do with suicide attempts
or crying and wearing black like they seem
to think out there
Derek: No!
Q: It’s become…
Derek: It’s taken on a life of its own…
Q: Yeah, it has.
Derek: I just don’t understand it because,
again, the emo music that I grew up listening
to is nothing like what people say is emo
now.
Q: Right, and there’s a big net that
they’re casting too; I’ve seen
bands that I would consider hardcore or metal
being thrown in there, and I’m like
“What? That can’t be right!”
Derek: There’s a lot of confusion as
to classifying or labeling bands these days
in terms of what’s indie rock, what’s
punk, what’s hardcore…
Q: Nobody seems to know anymore! In fact,
the younger generation are starting to say
things like “Well, The Ramones were
pop-punk” and I’m like “Gee,
I don’t think we had that term yet.”
Derek: Right.
Q: So yep, there’s definitely a lot
of confusion and I wanted to see if I could
get you clear it up a little bit. While we’re
on the subject of labels, why don’t
you make up your own? What would you call
Alkaline? Do you call yourselves anything?
Derek: Any time somebody asks me what kind
of music we play, I tell them: first and foremost,
rock and roll. It’s rock and roll, it’s
punk rock, it’s alternative; whatever
you would consider it to be, it’s fine
by me. Our influences are really wide-ranging,
so it’s hard for me to say that we only
listen to punk bands, so the music that we
make must be punk rock.
Q: Yeah, I don’t think any musician
worth their salt would only listen to one
genre.
Derek: I would hope not!
Q: I would hope not, too. Do you have a term
you like to use as a joke?
Derek: No, not really. I tend to be sort of
ambiguous in responding to that.
Q: I think that’s the way it should
be. I think most bands think of themselves
as rock bands.
Derek: Sure.
Q: So for those not yet in the know a bit
about “The Purple Trilogy;” how
you went about scoring a previously unreleased
Prince track!
Derek: I’m a big Prince fan, and through
networks of people who trade Prince’s
music (live concerts and demos and whatnot)
there’s a huge demand for that out there.
Consequently, Prince has made quite a reputation
for himself in suing people for distributing
that stuff and having websites taken down
for promoting it. I had an interest in a particular
period of Prince’s career, like “Purple
Rain” and earlier, and just striving
to find more and more stuff to listen to,
because I had gotten all of his albums and
I’ve listened to them so many times
that I just wanted to hear something that
was new, but still from that same era. I came
across this song that was originally intended
for “Purple Rain” but never made
the cut, and just thought it would be fun
to sort of re-imagine the song and give it
a proper recording. I actually reached out
to two former members of his backing band
for help with the track. They gave me some
real basic guidance and encouraged me in the
direction that I was taking certain things
– certain sounds that I was getting,
but it was still a fun project to do.
Q: Is he psyched? Have you heard from him?
Derek: Who knows?
Q: No comments from him?
Derek: I would assume that if he caught word
of it, he would make me take it off the internet
Q: (chuckling) Probably come after you with
a lawsuit.
Derek: Yeah; I’ve never met him before.
I know people who are close to him and have
great things to say about him, and I know
other people who have nothing good to say
about him. He’s definitely an idol of
mine that I would prefer not to meet.
Q: Just in case it’s negative, right?
Derek: Yes, exactly.
Q: In true “Reaper” fashion, what
would your twelve-year-old self say to you
right now and what would you say to yourself?
Derek: I think my twelve-year-old self would
be really pleased my thirty-two year old self.
You know, I don’t feel like I’ve
changed that much; in some regards, I feel
like I’ve come full circle. So yeah,
I think we’d get along really well.
Doing that project, “D Grant Meets the
Reaper…” I can’t even explain
how much fun it was for me to go back and
listen to that stuff. How amazed I was at
some of the pop sensibilities I had at such
an early age! Some of those songs I think
are so funny and clever and the melodies were
good. I had recorded all the music myself
and it was all recorded really poorly, which
is why I decided to re-record that stuff,
but I wanted to leave all the vocals intact.
I didn’t want to re-record the vocals
and change lyrics around and interfere too
much with that, because I think that was the
beauty of it was this very pure intent. I
had never played a show at that point in my
life outside of sitting in with my father’s
band. I’d never had a band of my own,
I’d never played a full set. I don’t
think I’d even been to a punk show at
that point because of my age. So that was
a completely… what’s the word
I’m looking for?
Q: Untainted?
Derek: A look into the naïve twelve year
old brain and I think that’s the beauty
of it.
Q: Absolutely. What was your first punk show,
by the way?
Derek: Hm, first punk show, that’s a
good question! Might’ve been Danzig;
that was definitely like an extension of my
Misfits fascination.
Q: That’s a good first!
Derek: I saw Rocket From the Crypt. Prior
to that, I’d been to a lot of rock shows
like ZZ Top and Fastway and bands like that;
classic rock stuff. Honestly, some of the
first punk shows that I went to were just
local bands in Detroit. There was a band called
S.B.L.C. (Screaming Bloody Leper Children)
that I loved and were definitely very influential
to me. There was another band called Almighty
Lumberjacks of Death, a band called The Scruffy
Teraways – just these bands that never
really made it out of Detroit were some of
my earliest exposures to punk rock.
Q: What do you think they’re doing right
now? You should call them up!
Derek: A lot of the bands have actually reunited
in recent years; I have been in touch with
some of the guys over the past ten years or
so. I’ve managed to reach out to a lot
of those people and thank them for being so
influential. I definitely want to give credit
where credit is due, and those are sort of
the unsung heroes of Detroit punk rock, so…
Q: It’s really, really great of you
to mention them - we find influences in the
most unfamiliar places. What would you like
to say to your fans?
Derek: I just want to thank everybody for
supporting what we do and for continuing to
come out to shows and hanging out with us
more than anything. We all love meeting people
and finding out what they’re about,
figuring out why they like what we do –
what we can bring to their lives and what
they can bring to ours.
Q: I’d say it’s the honesty.
Derek: That’s the greatest thing about
what we do, is being able to travel around
and meet new people and see old friends. Just
thanks to everybody for their support, and
we will hopefully see everybody on tour soon.
Q: Hopefully! I’m hoping you’re
coming back to my town soon; I missed it again.
Derek: Aw; yeah, we’ll be back. We’re
putting out the record in July and hit the
road after that.
Q: Ah, great! Have a great show tonight, Derek!
Thanks for your time!
Derek: Thanks; take care!
READ UP, LISTEN UP, WATCH A VID:
http://www.alkalinetrio.com/
http://www.myspace.com/alkalinetrio
CHAT WITH THE BAND:
http://www.twitter.com/dgrantdotcom
http://twitter.com/danielandriano
DEREK’S SIDE PROJECTS:
http://www.myspace.com/dgrantdotcom
CATCH THEM LIVE:
June 2, 2009: Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre
June 3, 2009: San Diego, California @ SDSU
Open Air Theater
June 5, 2009: Irvine, California @ Verizon
Wireless Amphitheater
June 7, 2009: Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater
