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Better than Ezra leader finds kindred spirits on 'AI'
Watching "American Idol" has become a ritual in the Los Angeles home of Better Than Ezra vocalist/guitarist Kevin Griffin. It should be. After all, he's written songs for a number of contestants.
"I have a song called 'Avalanche' that [David Cook and I] wrote together," Griffin said during a recent interview with LiveDaily via telephone from New Orleans. "I've written with David Archuleta; our song didn't make the album. I'm writing right now with Jason Castro and another kid, Josiah Leming, I just produced a song. He got kicked off early and he was really, really good. I'm hoping to write with Kris Allen. We'll see.
"A lot of these 'Idol' guys, they're kind of doing what I do really well," he added. "It's just kind of my thing. It's great. It's so hard to break an artist these days. These 'Idol' kids already have their names out there. Everybody knows them. Half the battle is done. That's why it's so successful. Love it or hate it, 'Idol' is here to stay--at least the reincarnations. I'm a fan. I did not like it at first, but it's just good TV."
While writing for "American Idol" contestants, Griffin and the rest of Better Than Ezra--bassist Tom Drummond and drummer Michael Jerome--are pushing their album "Paper Empire," which spawned the first single "Absolutely Still." The album was written over a period of five years. Griffin said a "perfect storm" of things kept him from writing a new album sooner than that.
"One was [Hurricane] Katrina," Griffin said. "Katrina hit a couple months after [2005's 'Before the Robots'] was released. But Katrina hit and it threw my personal life and the whole band's personal lives--the whole city--upside down.
"I left the city. I lived in San Antonio with my family for eight months. Then we moved to Los Angeles. At the same time, I was touring. Personally, I wasn't thinking about Better Than Ezra. I was thinking about family."
At the same time, he was suffering from Better Than Ezra burnout. The band had been together for nearly two decades, producing songs such as "Good" and "Desperately Wanting."
"We all kind of needed a break," Griffin explained. "It was starting to get like punching the clock a bit. We needed a break. Again, I was living in L.A. and writing with a bunch of different people and doing different things. I think those things came together to make it a long time between albums."
Griffin said he does not plan to let that time-lapse happen again. He's so pleased with "Paper Empire" that he's anxious to put out more music, whether it's in the form of an LP or EP.
"EPs these days, it just makes sense," Griffin said. "It's just a way to keep your name out there longer with good product. Making an album is so labor intensive. These days ... people just download certain tracks they like anyway. Why not have two releases a year as opposed to one every few years?"
