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| ::Interviews:: |
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| review & interview content, as well as web site graphics & design, copywrite 2003-2004 Euphonia Online. use of materials granted only with reasonable purposes. |
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| interviewed by robby sumner |
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Ben Holsteen - Vocals, Guitar Jim Roach - Guitar Eric Palmguist - Bass Dan Patterson - Drums Joel Pierson - Samples, Synthesizer |
| Interview with Jim March 11th, 2004 |
| E: Jim, the general belief of the music community tends to be that a band's influences are the greatest defining factor of their sound. Would you agree that musical backgrounds make such a substantial impact? Jim: Absolutely. If anyone says that they've single-handedly invented the style of music they're playing, they're lying. A lot of the time, what I am listening to in any given month or week will affect how I look at and play my guitar. If I am having a heavy Drive Like Jehu week, I am writing lots of noisy dissonant music, which Rosewood usually takes and makes into a pop song! If I am listening to U2, I am thinking, "Write the best song ever written." I think it's a great thing. The Rosewood guys always talk about how the version of rock we're playing came from the old blues players. It's a great progression. E: Do you think that a band will most likely be more successful if it sticks to a consistent sound or style? Jim: That's a tough one. A lot of times a band--especially unsigned ones--feel the pressure to write a certain way, given the way the industry is going. Every song has to be up and rocking or it won't make sense to a label. The greatest bands, in my opinion, are the ones that can pull everything off. It's a two-sided coin. Some bands just happen to be able to pull off a slow song with strings and/or a blistering metal song (Smashing Pumkins), but a band like Korn is in their niche, and they're apparently good at what they do. It all just depends, I suppose... I think the bands that can do more will retain the most longevity. E: Do bandmates ever disagree during the songwriting process? Jim: You have no idea! We've about thrown guitars at each other at times. It's very hard to create with four other people, no matter what you're doing. But when you throw the word "art" into the picture, it all of a sudden becomes very personal. Writing music is a very vulnerable thing, and bandmates can tend to forget that and be very harsh in the writing process. The old saying "Too many cooks in the kitchen" is the best way to describe it. Getting five people to land on something that each one loves can be very hard, and can take a long time. Rosewood has gotten good at working as a team, though. It takes time to realize what bothers other people in the writing process. You need to learn how to communicate effectively and without offending. E: What would you say are the most important factors going into forming a band? Jim: Commitment. That's the most important thing you can have. I sometimes do songwriting seminars for friends who are teachers, and when kids ask me how to start a band I tell them, "Find people who don't want to do anything else... ever." You need to get a group of people that are committing to a certain end or goal. Otherwise, your bass player's girlfriend will want him to quit, or you'll feel like coming back to school, or you'll decide you want to be an accountant. I've seen a lot of that tear apart great bands because they weren't committed enough. Also, good players. The harsh reality is that if you can't play your instrument very well, you're not going to get too many peoples' attention. E: As the profession of music grows older and older, do you think that writing and performing as a band becomes more difficult? Easier? Jim: It goes both ways, I suppose. On the one hand you have more and more artists and careers to look at and see how they did. In that sense, it makes it easier. On the other hand--the side I am more on--the more music that is made, the harder it is to do something unique and stand out. It can be real stressful, as a band, to try and out-do the band that played before you on a bill. As for the live thing... you have to do something, or have a presence that will separate you from every other band that has a guitar and a tour van. E: Can a band be talented at writing and recording but fall short when it comes to performing live--or vice versa--and still be successful? Jim: Definitely. I think there are plenty of bands that don't quite cut it live but release great records, and vice versa. Sometimes the best songwriters are those guys who write for publishing companies, but who were never meant to be seen or perform for anyone. These are the guys who write songs for the N*Sync's and the Christina Aguilera's of the world. On the other hand, you can go to a punk show and be totally rocked... but you'd never want to take the CD home. That's my experience. E: Are the paths that you've been taking as a musician that you'd never have expercted to have taken starting out a few years ago? Jim: Yeah, I think so. Moreso thinks I've said in the past, or things I was into in the past. I used to always trash the pop artists and pop music because it was easy. But at the end of the day, those people are extremely good at what they do. Their writers write amazing songs for them, and they have amazing voices, most of the time. What's not to like about that? I think I used to want to be in a hard rock band more than I do now. Rosewood is starting to write a bunch of mellow music that's very textured, and I am loving it. My tastes and opinions are maturing, for sure. E: Is a band most likely doomed if it starts off without any sort of financial security? Jim: We are poster children for starting off with zero money for a band, and that's fine. We pulled graduation money together and found a producer that believed in us to cut our first demo. We did our first three songs for $800 with a great producer. You just have to plan on making that product make you more money. You also have to have a good product. But you just have to be creative if you don't have the money as a band... it's not the end of the world. If the individuals don't have some kind of financial security, it could lead to problems. But then it comes down to commitment. Are you going to get a part-time job so you can pay the bills and keep doing the band, or are you going to go into debt so at some point you can quit to get a "real" job and pay off the debt? When Rosewood started, none of us really had much financial security. We just made it happen. We painted for people, we sold stuff on Ebay, and we spend seven hours a day in our studio writing music, because the sooner you hone your craft, the sooner it starts paying you the money you deserve! It's just a matter of good planning and sound financial smarts. E: Why do you think that newer, less-established bands tend to start their recording career off with a short series of EPs before taking the time to record a full-length? Jim: Ah... good question, because that's what we're doing right now. Releasing an EP is great in lots of different scenarios. One... it's an inexpensive way to let the world know who you are and what you're doing. You can spend half the money in the studio, record four songs and get them pressed. This will give you something to tour on and whet the appetite of the people that heard you and liked you. When you come back through town the next time with a record, or if that person sees your full-length at in Tower Records or something... they're going to buy it. The other reason is from an industry standpoint. Releasing an EP is a good litmus test to see how a band will do. If a band records an EP, heads out on tour and sells out in two weeks... that's a good sign. If, when they get home, their website is doubling in hits, and the band's e-mail account is overflowing... the label might realize that they're onto something that could really hit hard. For me, releasing an EP is a very hip way of getting your stuff out for cheap. It builds a lot of street cred with the kids who buy music if they can hear it first, before the big album hits the stores. E: What obstacles would you say you've had to overcome so far as a group? Jim: The line-up was pretty uncertain for a while. I was in another band and wasn't ready to commit to Rosewood. Our drummer was getting married and was living in New York. All of these things made it made it pretty hard to get the project up and running. But once everyone made the commitment, it was underway. For the most part, things have been handed to this band! We got signed within three months of finishing our demos. It's been really nice... but the biggest setback at this point is having a drummer in New York City. E: What would be the worst-case scenario for the band? Jim: That we get tired of making music, or we jeopordize the integrity of the band by writing in a vein that your label wants you to write in. That's the greatest offense. Another worst case in our situation is someone leaving the band. The Rosewood Fall is more than the sum of its parts. We couldn't do what we're doing now without each one of us, and that's very unique. If anyone were ever to decide to leave the band for whatever reason, TRF would be done. E: What would you say are the Rosewood Fall's strengths and weaknesses? Jim: We're really good at writing songs. Ben can bring in a morsel of a song and in one hour it'll be something amazing. We're also really good with our ear for production. Most, if not all, ideas and/or sounds you hear on an album come from us, not a producer. Each one of us could produce for a living if we wanted to. We've all spent a lot of time in the studio, and it shows in our music. Another major strength is that Ben has an amazing and very unique voice. In that same vein, we're all very good at our instruments. Most of us have taught our instrument at one point or another. As for weakness... we can sometimes rush the songwriting process and get sloppy. Another biggie is the live thing--if something goes wrong during a set, everyone shuts off and the perfomance factor is just gone. We can lose our edge pretty quick on stage. But that just comes from the very small amount of shows we've played in our year and a half of existence. E: Do you believe that those destined to play music know that this is their dream from a young age? Jim: I would say that I agree with that, only because that is how I got into music. I've known since I was about twelve that I just wanted to be a rockstar! I wanted to be Cee Cee Deville from Poison so bad. The dream of playing music for a living never left since I started playing the drums in Jr. High. Once it hooked me, I stopped playing sports and completely delved into it. The flipside is that there are so many amazingly talented songwriters or musicians who say that they're destined to play music, but do nothing about it. So are they destined? I don't know. I think the idealism in "chasing the dream" can get carried away. There's a lot of practical work that has to happen before the "dream" can be achieved. E: Well, you guys certainly are on your way. Thanks so much for checking in at this stage of your flourishing career. Jim: Absolutely. Thanks for inviting us. |