MM: Yeah‚ that makes me think of the Beatles. Or Bob Dylan‚ just huge for me in terms of delivering a song - I'll hear a song and it always gives me a chill or...
TH: Yeah‚ I mean they spoke for their generation‚ for thousands of people. It's not because they were like " we're going to speak for thousands of people"‚ but because they were able express themselves and thousands‚ or even millions of people said right on.
MM: Right‚ like they have tapped into our subconscious and gave us a song that says what we've been trying to say all along.
TH: That is art - that is something you can't take lessons for. You can't go to Berklee and learn how to write like John Lennon. You can go and learn how to play anything‚ but that doesn't really teach you emotion‚ that doesn't teach about being human. That's one of the reasons I've refused to take lessons. My parents offered them‚ but I was never into it. Music to me wasn't about blackened notes on white paper‚ it was about that fucking guy up there singing that song making me cry. That's what I want. It's sort of like street smarts and book smarts‚ that's the way I see it. Songwriting is street smarts.
MM: Yeah‚ you live life and you write about your experiences‚ you don't read a book about it then…
TH: Now‚ I can write "Yesterday." It says it right here: A + B = C. Wow‚ now I can write "Yesterday". That's the problem with the music industry today you know‚ like Pearl Jam and Nirvana come up with two good ideas in 1991 and all of a sudden we are here with Creed (laughter). Some record producer or asshole somewhere is saying "all they did was sing like they have something in their mouth‚ throw on the distortion during the chorus and the kids love it." It's like okay‚ you've just ruined music for the world. I don't know‚ that's just my view on the whole thing so I don't even know what your original question was...
MM: Yeah I don't either…
TH: I definitely feel the songwriting is much more of a rewarding art to sculpt then my guitar playing.
MM: It's about delivering a good song. I think it is obvious that experiencing a well-crafted tune is very spiritual for you. A good song by the Beatles‚ or like you were saying before about Radiohead how they can make an album and convey that...
TH: It's just beautiful...
MM: On the other side of it‚ you guys are also a live band that plays in the moment - there's a whole new world there. How do you get off... (pause) playing‚ sorry that came out wrong…
TH: Well‚ I only play with one hand...
MM: (laughing) There you go. So playing live‚ what's that experience like for you?
TH: It's apples and oranges. Playing live for me is a game. The way we write our set lists we go in and out of songs with different keys and different tempos and different feels to them. It's not easy to go from one song in a certain key with a drum and bass vibe and work that into a tune in a different key that has a reggae feel. And to make it seamless‚ where the listener is like wow how did they get here‚ you know‚ where it's not where we counted 1‚2‚3‚4 boom we all hit something. The idea is to turn into a liquid where you just morph and move and change shapes and go where we feel we need to go. You have gigs that are good‚ and ones that are bad. That's a fun thing‚ and when it works we come up with some of the craziest stuff off the top of our heads. Four guys who are four completely different people come up with one piece of improvised music that is just beautiful. Then there's times that we come up with something that is just complete shit‚ but that's great. You can't have the good without the bad‚ you know.
MM: Exactly‚ I think the best live bands in world are willing to play shit to play something that is completely beautiful.
TH: Fuck yeah man! It's a great thing - I think it's like a sport. You practice and realize want you need to work on‚ like "we need to work on our defense." That's kind of the way things go‚ and don't get me wrong‚ I love improvising. That's the only way I played for years‚ actually all of us came from that. We all came from the "jamband" world - we were all listening to the Grateful Dead and Phish when we were younger. We played in bands trying to be those people. It's cool to play like that and have our own spin on it‚ and to make interesting‚ and to make it fun. You know‚ go out play a good game. Don't get me wrong because I'm so hung up on the songwriting thing‚ I love improvising. A lot of times when we're improvising I'm like wow‚ this would be a great song. We should go back and listen to the tapes and make this a song.
MM: That's a funny thing. Well‚ I'm not a great player‚ but I'm really into it. I remember jamming with some people‚ and one friend of mine shared this idea that the beginning of writing a good song is to improvise on the initial groove for like five minutes until it really clicks and becomes interesting. That's when the song should start because it's based on four people really understanding each other. So yeah‚ what you just said makes perfect sense to me.
TH: That's cool that somebody else understands my way of thinking about it. I don't go out and see to many bands in our scene‚ but when I do I feel like such an alien because I don't really play with the same philosophy‚ especially being a guitar player. I go and see some of these bands with these great guitar players and I'm just like 'I'm a fucking idiot!' They definitely don't think about playing the same way I do‚ it's cool to hear somebody who does feel that way.
MM: The way I always looked at it is that if a band is playing really well‚ the guitarist is going to be playing something that is brought out of him by the other people in the band or the crowd. Not so much‚ well‚ like you were saying before‚ now it's time to bust out the Stevie Ray lick. Because you're not Stevie Ray‚ that was him‚ and he played his guitar like him. And if you're really listening and feeding off who ever you're playing with‚ you're gonna end up sounding like you.
TH: Yeah‚ he thought of that and that's what makes him so great. It's like that joke "How many guitar players does it take to screw in a light bulb?"
MM: How many?