By Ben Goldberger, Kacey Johnson
Newsday
October 31, 1993

We spoke with guitarist Rogers Stevens and drummer Glen Graham from the group Blind Melon backstage before their recent concert at Jones Beach.  Their self-titled debut album for Capitol Records features their hit,  "No Rain."

Q. Why did you name your group Blind Melon?
 A. Rogers: That is a story that Brad, the bass player, usually tells.  His dad lived across the way from these hippie guys in the early '70s.  They used to yell back and forth, "What's happening, Blind Melon?" It was his way of describing his neighbors. We had other choices for names every day, but that one sort of stuck with us.

Q. How does this tour with Neil Young compare to last year's MTV tour?
 A. Rogers: For the MTV tour we didn't have an album out and nobody knew who we were. The tour, basically, was a flop. It didn't do well, but it wasn't our fault. Now, on this tour, we are touring with a legend [Neil Young]. It's really cool. We love the band Soundgarden and Neil's band.

Q. How did you choose the girl on the cover for your first album and video? Does she symbolize anything?
 A. Glen: Maybe she has come to symbolize something, but how she was chosen was that Christopher was at my house and he saw a picture on the wall of my sister. He thought that picture of her would make a great album cover.
Rogers: The girl that is in the video is not the same girl that is on the album cover. The girl on the album cover is now about our age, 23.

 Q. Did you always want to be musicians?
 A. Rogers: Yeah. This is what I wanted to do. I started playing tennis when I was a kid, and I thought that I wanted to be a tennis player. I also wanted to be a superhero when I was kid, but I discovered that I didn't have any powers.

Q. Do you like touring?
A. Glen: We like playing, but we don't really like touring right now. We are just tired because it has been going on for a long time now.

Q. Do you like large arenas or small places?
A. Rogers: I don't particularly like large arenas, but this place [Jones Beach] is pretty cool. Places no bigger than this are nice. Clubs are nice. Generally, the big arenas make your music sound terrible, so what is the point?
Glen: They really can't hear what you are doing. The sound just isn't there.

Q. Wasn't it Shannon who sang backup with Guns n' Roses and also appeared in the "Don't Cry" video?
A. Rogers: Yes. They grew up in the same town in Indiana so they knew each other. They hung out in the studio together one night and they asked him to sing backup for them.

Q. How do you explain the success of your recent hit single, "Change"?
A. Glen: It was the most accessible song on the record. You see moms listening to that song on the radio, as opposed to other songs. We had put out two singles before that and they didn't do as well. It wasn't that they were weird, but they weren't ear candy, either.

Q. Do you ever do cover tunes?
A. Glen: We like to put other people's songs in the middle of our songs.  A song like "Change" we will put "Dear Mr. Fantasy," by Traffic in the middle of it.

Q. Do your parents listen to your music?
A. Glen: Mine do. I know that my mom drives around with a cassette of our music in her car.
Rogers: My mom listens to it, but my dad has absolutely no idea what we are doing.