I had the pleasure of sitting down and talking to Chad Alan on Saturday night, amid some Snood playing on the back of the bus! This was after my Vendetta Red interview, but it kept up my theory about nice musicians, at least for that night! This soft-spoken bassist was a joy to talk to, as were the rest of The Juliana Theory. I can see this band is at an all-time high with the recent release of their major label debut, �Love�. I will warn you right now that Chad likes Zwan, a lot. I think he likes to talk to, because I ran out of tape yet again! Here�s what he had to say�
What are your biggest musical influences and what are you listening to right now?
Okay! I�m listening to Jimi Hendrix �Bold as Love� CD. I�m listening to the new Zwan CD. This band called Recover I really like, an indie band, the EP they have out right now � well, it�s been out for a little while, but it�s really cool. I really like it. Of course, Vendetta Red, our labelmates, I really like that record a lot. I listen to that a bunch. I�ve really been into the new Zwan album. It�s a really inspirational record for me. I needed an album like it, that sort of rock n� roll. Big sounds, Billy Corgan rocking again. I think he�s a great songwriter. It�s good to see him back on top where he belongs! So, that�s what I�ve been listening to lately, but again we have many influences.
What prompted you into making music your job?
I kind of had no choice since we were on tour so much! This is what we love; this is what we want to be doing. We�ve given up a lot of other things to do it. It�s worked out so far! (laughs)
What do you think is the best show you�ve ever played?
Ever played? That�s a tough question! Let me give you one�s from this tour. I can honestly say aside from a few technical problems of mine, New Jersey. St. Louis was a really memorable show for me this tour. Same thing, I thought it was a great crowd, great energy, great sound, played good! It�s always weird, you know, for us every night is not the same. We don�t have certain things we do every night. You know? We change the setlist up every night. It�s a different energy every night; you always want to be on your game.
I�ve got a lot of questions about the new record.
Oh good!
What does the title of �Love� mean to you?
I think it�s simple enough. We wanted to go for a simple title because we�ve always gone for such long, kind of drawn out titles. It�s like: The Juliana Theory � Music Room Another Room, The Juliana Theory - Understand This Is A Dream, The Juliana Theory � Emotion Is Dead! Da da da da da! We wanted to just have something simple. It stands on its own as a pretty bold word, you know? We thought that love was a pretty cool word. A lot of the lyrics on the record kind of tie into the word. There�s a lot of positive and negative things that come out of that word so I don�t think when people focus on the title they should think of it in a romantic sense. It�s much more than that. It�s a bit of a theme on all the songs.
How do you feel it compares to your previous work?
Well, we took a much different approach to recording this record. This was definitely the first album we did in multi-studios. We had a lot of the original bass, drum and some guitar tracks done in this studio in California, near San Francisco. It was the first time we all actually got to be in the same room and record. We had never done that before, we wanted a �together vibe�. There�s more of an energy on this album. We come to life more on this CD more than in the past, maybe. That was one thing we thought maybe we could improve on from past recordings. We had a lot of fun. A lot of different studios was what was different with this album as opposed to others.
Have you ever considered making music videos?
Yeah, we�ve never made a video, but we�ve had offers to make one. We wanted to wait for the right time, to make a good video and I think it�s something we didn�t feel comfortable doing on Tooth and Nail [Records], but we could now. The album is doing pretty well now, �Do You Believe Me� is starting to get more airplay, and sure we�ll do a video. I�ve got several ideas of my own that I�d like to bounce off the band for videos. I think when the time is right, when we get approached, and we get together with some directors�I�ve spoken to a few. The band has read over some scripts. It�s a concept we would want to come up with on our own; we�d want it to be fun. Something different!
How has your life changed since you�ve signed to Epic?
It hasn�t changed much except for I�ve gotten a lot busier. It means I get to see the people I love a whole lot less. It�s hard, but everything�s give and take. That�s the hardest part about it, being away from people.
Where do you see yourself in 20 years? Will you be The Rolling Stones?
Ha, I don�t know�
My tape was gone after that question. I�d like to thank Chad however for being so wordy! Hopefully I will never have to do 2 interviews in the same night again and squander all my tape! The Juliana Theory�s new record, �Love� is out now on Epic Records. Check them out at www.thejulianatheory.com, you might want to pick up the new Zwan record too!
