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EIGHT MINUTES LATE 07.23.04 "We're just really nice guys who have different influences and a different musical maturity than the teenage angst-ridden rock being shoved down the public's throat." - Neill Steinke, Eight Days Gone Is there room for “nice guys” in rock music? Depends on the listener, I suppose. Are you tired of the yelling, the screaming, the whining and the venting? Then Eight Days Gone may be just what you’re looking for. One reviewer called it, “too emotional and too cerebral.” Limpbizkit fans need not apply. Eight Days Gone is guitar rock in the Collective Soul vein; solid musicianship, emotive vocals, competent and accessible songwriting, occasionally sappy but always heartfelt, big, full music. We called in to singer Neill Steinke for a chat. We were about eight minutes late. Before ringing, we got this message: “If your call is of a telemarketing survey or solicitation nature please hang up now. These calls will not be accepted. Otherwise from your touchtone phone please dial 1 plus the pound sign to complete this call.” S&T: 1, #. Neill: Hello? S&T: Hi, is this Neill? Neill: Yes, it is. S&T: Neill, this is Scott from Show & Tell. Neill: Hi. How are you doing? S&T: I’m doing pretty good. Sorry (for being late), man. I was just going, “Let me check that email and confirm the time on this,” and it says, “You will be calling Neill at home at 3pm,” and I’m like, “Ahhhh! I’m supposed to call him! He’s not calling me!” Neill: It’s cool. S&T: “Well, that explains why he hasn’t called.” (laughter) First off, tell me about that message I just got before I got through, because I think I need that on my phone line. Neill: It’s awesome, isn’t it? I just went to the phone company and it’s like $2.95 a month or something like that and it puts a block on so that way anything that comes through that’s not known… or there is a place on the internet where I can go on and type in names and numbers of people that won’t hear that message, but anyone else gets that recording so any telemarketer or anyone on a power dialer won’t get through. S&T: Very nice! [Note to self: call phone company after interview] Neill: It’s awesome. I haven’t gotten one telemarketing call since I put that on the phone and it’s been ten or eleven months now. S&T: Well, alright, I’m sold! [Scott and Neill chat for another 5 minutes about the annoying blight on society that is telemarketing. And finally…] S&T: So how are things going? Neill: Things are going great. S&T: Yeah? Tell me about it. Neill: Well, our album (Silence To The Naysayers) was released on June 22nd. The single had been out for probably 12 weeks so we’re up to about 35 adds across the United States and the markets we have adds in we’re getting some really strong airplay so that’s really cool. They’re really pushing it. S&T: Great. Neill: Starting in August we have some really huge shows. We went from just some club dates to opening up for Collective Soul and Shinedown and we’re going to do a show down in Texas with Puddle of Mudd. We’re doing these festivals too which will be really good exposure. Fifteen, twenty, thirty thousand people festivals. S&T: Yeah, I saw that. I was looking at your tour dates. It looks like a lot of radio shows. Neill: It is a lot of radio shows because they call us and say, “Look, we’ll start banging your single if you come down here and play our show,” and we’re like “Um… okay!” [laughs] S&T: Is that how it works? Neill: Yeah. So it’s been really good. They’re able to kinda start banging the single and whatever we do at the shows is at no cost to them for the tour promotion, you know? But hey, we want to play and get out there and that’s the way to do it. S&T: Right. That’s the stage you’re at… “Exposure stage.” Neill: That’s it. So we’re just out there plugging away and pushing hard trying to break through. S&T: Have you guys done any national touring before? Neill: No. Just local. S&T: What’s the general vibe… are you excited or are you nervous? Neill: I think a little bit of both. We’re excited, you know. I think it was about a month or so ago that we made a DVD press kit that had some interview stuff on it. When asked “What is success?” and one of the answers we came up with was to play in front of ten or twenty thousand people and it’s like next month. We have like 4 dates in front of twenty to fifty thousand people. S&T: Well, there you go. Neill: Yeah, so it’s really exciting. We’re hoping some of this stuff will kinda translate into a tour. Get picked up with somebody and go out on the road with somebody for six to eight months. S&T: That DVD is the one (that’s advertised) on the front of your web site? Neill: Yeah. There are a couple of different things on there. We shot some footage for three songs and did some interview stuff. It’s more of an EPK (electronic press kit). It gives people a flavor for the band and what we’re about. It’s cool. S&T: So now are you going out in a van or… Neill: Actually our record company was gracious enough to give us a thirty-two foot RV. S&T: Wow. Neill: Yeah. It’s brand new and it rocks! We’re picking up a trailer this next week ‘cause we just had to get all new road cases for all our gear… but we’re out in an RV. S&T: That’s very cool, man. Neill: Yeah. You can’t beat driving and being able to use the bathroom at the same time. S&T: Right. [laughs] But not actually at the same time. Neill: (laughs) It was really a godsend that they had it and they said, “Take it, you guys need it.” So it sits out in front of my house and we take care of it and it really makes the long trip enjoyable. S&T: Now that’s (record label) Ragin’ Grace. It that a Pennsylvania label? Neill: No. Connecticut. S&T: How did you hook up with them? I’ve never heard of them. Neill: It’s a small independent label. We hooked up with them through our manager Larry Stessel who was actually working on another project for them as a consultant for a band called Contact. He was doing some radio stuff for them and one day he was like, “I manage a band called Eight Days Gone and you guys might be interested in what they are.” The next day they came down to see us at a show and then they called, said they loved the band and wanted to sign us. And we‘re like, “Really? Well okay!” [laughs] S&T: So is it just the two bands on there (Eight Days Gone and Contact)? Neill: Actually there are three. There is Contact, a guy named Griz who is a mixture of hardcore music and kind of rap and us. S&T: You can say rap. I’ve heard it. It was sent to us, it’s rap. Neill: Then you know what it is. S&T: Yeah, I know. Neill: We played the music on that; did you know that? S&T: I did not. Neill: Yeah. We played all the music. We recorded the whole album for him. S&T: Did you write the music as well? Neill: Yeah, probably about 50% of it. He had some rap ideas and we kinda just went in and did the music for it. It was very cool. S&T: How did that work out? Neill: It worked out cool. John and I (the drummer) used to be in a thrash band about 12 years ago. S&T: Inhibitor. Neill: You got it. So it was kinda going back to some roots for us. It was fun. I don’t want to say it was less intricate because it was intricate, but different. It was fun to go in there and just bash it all out and make stuff as heavy as you can. S&T: That was one of my questions. Going from that thrash type of music that you were playing in ’91 to the kinda music you are playing now, how does that even happen? Neill: It was funny. We were doing like this kinda thrash, speed metal thing and still trying to get a record deal, you know. John, our drummer, used to take a bunch of demos into the city. They used to have this New Music thing in the city and he’d travel into the city with his backpack and start handing out our demos. It’s just hard for a band to break into the music business without some help no matter what you are doing. You have to be discovered. I think what happened for me is that I used to be into punk and hardcore then Metallica and stuff and we did all that. Then the Seattle grunge thing came around. I wasn’t deep into it. I wasn’t listening to all the early bands like Mudhoney, but Pearl Jam… I was like, “Wow, these guys have melody.” So I think we started getting into a more songwriting type of mode rather than these eight minute acrobatic things. We started to see that we could take two or three or four chords and get the same kind of intensity across emotionally with the music as opposed to just trying to beat you up with fast riffs. We just wanted to write songs more and incorporate melody more into our music. We started slowing it down and still wanted to keep it semi-heavy. Our record now, I wouldn’t say it’s heavy like “heavy” but it’s intense heavy on some parts. S&T: Were you the primary songwriter for that band as well? Neill: No. We kind of did it like whoever had a riff and we would just play it fast and that’s how it kind of came out. S&T: How about now? Neill: Now. I would have to say that I do a good majority of it, but everybody in the band brings something unique into the band. I might bring in three chords and a melody but it doesn’t sound anything like that when it’s done after Steve adds his guitar and Gary adds his bass. So the songs are definitely a band effort. S&T: Is it a songwriting process or is it a jam session? Neill: It’s kind of a little bit of both. Sometimes our songs are born out of jam sessions in the studio and we’ll hit a riff that sounds really cool and then we’ll try and incorporate it or keep it on the backburner. We actually record all of our practices. We have a home studio in this little trailer at the back of my house so we’re able to do a lot of pre-production stuff. I’m able to go in and set up a mic and play my acoustic guitar and come up with something and do a little singing and then we can all listen to it and then we jam on it. That’s how different parts kind of come out. S&T: And the other stuff was all self-produced, right? You had two records before this one? Neill: Yeah. We had our first record, which was on a small independent label that made it out to the stores before the label lost all it’s funding. So, just when you think you are going to be a rock star [laughs] you’re like, “Oh, our record is just about to come out, we’re going to be huge!“and all of a sudden you get a call, “Um, we really don’t have any more money so see you later.“ But that album was actually self-produced and self-recorded. S&T: In the trailer? Neill: Uh-huh. The entire thing. It took about eight months and through the winter and I remember doing some vocal tracks and some bass tracks when it was so cold in the trailer. There is heat in it but it’s not very well insulated and it would be only like 55 or 60 degrees inside. I remember some nights seeing my breath when I was singing. S&T: You’re singing and your voice is cracking. Neill: It was horrible. I’d be singing with a winter coat on and you could hear the ruffle of my coat (on the track). S&T: Oh, that’s hysterical. Neill: It was a labor of love, you know? I think the problem with self-producing and self-recording your own stuff is that there’s nobody there to tell you if it’s good or not and that’s good and bad. You’ve got nobody going, “Yeah, keep that because I hear something good in it.” Critiquing yourself more often you wind up not happy with it to the point where you are running out of time. I mean it took us eight months, which was ridiculous, but we were all working full-time jobs. So I’d work eight or nine hours a day and then we’d all come back to the studio and try to record for four or five hours. It was just out of control. S&T: I would imagine that the main problem is that, yeah sure, it’s four guys together and you’re on the same page and you may have some disagreements but for the most part you all share the same musical perspective… Neill: Oh, absolutely. S&T: And then you’re sitting in a room and that’s the only perspective that you have. Neill: Exactly. There’s nobody telling you let’s try and go in this direction or that direction. People don’t realize that when you make records and you bring in producers who really know music and have a good ear for all stuff how much that enhance things. It takes stuff from being a demo to being a record. S&T: The other part to that too is that there is a selection process for picking a producer where you can go with a guy that fills in a shortcoming or, “we’re a little weak here or we really want somebody that is going to help us vocally or someone who is going to help us write music.” You can actually pick a guy who has a particular strong suit. Neill: Yeah, absolutely. And one of the cool thing when we did a demo, an EP called 303 Sessions down in Florida and that was sort of self-produced. We used an engineer/producer to do some of that stuff. First of all, with this album we were able to do a lot of pre-production. With the studio you are able to go in and finetune your ideas and melodies and lyrics and the bass lines and guitar. So you’re not getting into the studio starting from scratch. You’re kind of getting in there going, “I know what parts we want to do so let’s just try and enhance them in the bigger studio.” We had Joe Smith who has done a lot of pop stuff like N’ Sync and Backstreet (Boys). He kind of came from out of thin air through somebody who knew somebody and he was willing to come on board for a really great price. He really loved the music so even if he didn’t have the experience in the current rock market we knew he had a great ear and great ideas and from talking to him he got what we were trying to do so he was dedicated to the point where he took a little cut in his fee to make it happen which was really cool. S&T: That’s very cool. Neill: Yeah. Going into the studio with him he was really able to certainly give his ideas but really just… he had a special way of helping us bring out our own ideas and really work with our own creativity. He really pushed us in the right direction, which was really special. S&T: Who were the naysayers? Neill: I would have to say that most of the industry we ran into when we were first trying to get a record deal. S&T: So you’ve been doing this long enough to be a little bitter. Neill: You know what… we were a little bitter. Our manager, Larry Stessel, and Pat Armstrong… Larry was huge in the music industry. He marketed Thriller for Michael Jackson and he marketed Pearl Jam’s Ten; he ran Mercury Records for a while. I mean he’s just a real industry heavyweight. He just knows everybody. So when he heard our music he wanted to manage us. So what he was able to do what set up all these showcases in New York for us. He’d just called up Epic records and say, “Look, I have a band I want you to see them and I want you to pay for the showcase,” and they went, “Okay.” So we went to New York City and for about 2 weeks we did showcases for I don’t know upwards of fifteen labels. We were doing like 3 showcases a day. Three six-song showcases and these people would come in with their arms folded and sit in front of you and you’d wrap up a set and they’d say, “Thanks,” and walk out the door. And the funny thing was that they all loved us. They were all, “You guys are great and you guys are going to be rock stars and we’ll talk,” and it seems that when you don’t sell twenty or thirty thousand copies of your demo out of your truck they don’t seem to be able to make a decision. The industry is so much about not artist development. They are not into creating bands. S&T: Here. Here. Neill: Hey, maybe our first album is only going to sell like fifty thousand copies but you know if you hear something, maybe two albums from know it could sell two million copies. Who knows? But you know what I’m saying? S&T: Man, I know exactly what you’re saying. Neill: I think what happened for us was that there was the mentality that, “If I don’t make any decisions I can’t make a wrong decision.” They tell you they think you’re great and they want to sign your band and then just back out at the last minute because they want to make sure they have a job come Monday morning because, “if I make the wrong decision and I sign a band that nobody gets behind and I fail then I am going to get fired.” It was just very frustrating. S&T: You’re not unique. It’s the same story I’ve heard a thousand times and the thing that always bothers me is there are so many unsigned bands out there that are so much better than most of the stuff that comes across my desk. And that’s frustrating to me. Neill: I don’t understand how record companies can even… do you really think that the 15,000 people you sell in your home market is going to make a difference in the scheme of things. How are they going to break you on the West Coast? How will those 15,000 make a difference? Even the big problem in our area was that the only bands selling 15,000 copies of their CD are cover bands that do some original; you know what I’m saying? Clubs don’t want to know anything. We tell them we’re original music and they tell us they go, “We don’t have original music here.” Original music doesn’t sell beer. It’s kind of like this big catch-22. And we felt like we were getting stuck in the corner because we were deciding to say that as a band, instead of going out and playing covers and trying to build up a following like that, we’re going to stick to our integrity and hone our songwriting skills in the studio. We spent a lot of money on studio equipment and worked on perfecting that instead of going out and playing cover tunes four or five nights a week. S&T: To your advantage at this stage in the game is that you guys are probably a little older and a little wiser than the other kids that are being taken advantage out there. And not that bitter is ever a good thing but you can flip it over and just call it “experience.” Then it’s, “You’ve been through the process and you have an understanding and you don’t let anybody bullshit you.” Neill: Absolutely. That is exactly where we are. I mean we’re a little older and wiser and we’re not so starry-eyed when somebody says something. S&T: Right. Neill: We’re just more experienced and we’ll call it that. S&T: I couldn’t find too much information other than the band bio. Could you just give me just a quick run down of the guys. Neill: Sure. John the drummer and I have been playing together for like 12 years. We’ve kinda gone through a bunch of different guitarists. It was about four years ago that John and I were getting frustrated even with rock music and we were saying, “You know what? Let’s just do this kind of acoustic thing and where we’re going to write and do the songwriter sort of thing.” We had written some stuff and Gary, our bass player, had also been in a band with John before. Gary was kind of this bass player that we were always like, “One day we will have Gary in the band.” I remember that I kept pestering John that we needed a bass player for the demo and couldn’t he just call him and at the least all we want him to do is just play on the demo. And then if something came out of the demo we could just hire a bass player. And when something starts happening for you they start crawling out of the woodwork anyway. So we ask Gary to just come up to the studio and just take the CD and listen to it. He did and he came up the same night and played his bass and was like, “I want to be in this band.” Sometime later we were talking about that day and he was saying that just the day before he had quit his other band. He was doing a cover band and he put his bass away and said, “I’m just going to go and go to work, it’s just too frustrating and too hard and I’ve been doing this for too many years,” and then when he heard some of the stuff we were doing and came and hung out with us and we had that vibe he was like, “This is it.” And that was four years ago. The way we met Steve is actually interesting too. The independent label we were on, there was kind of this weird thing going on between the general manager and the owner of the label and they were slipping me songs on the back end to mix because the guy that owned the label pretty much sucked and he was an engineer/producer but everything he did was really bad. S&T: Oh, that’s funny. Neill: Nobody had the heart to tell him that like everything he was doing, like he must have been deaf or something, I don’t know. So what happened was one day they said, “We have this other band on our label and radio wants to take this single,” down in, I think it was in Biloxi Station (Mississippi), WCPR, I think, wanted the single, so they called me and they said they knew I had a studio and that we had done our record, it didn’t measure up to major, major label quality standards but it was an Independent label, and they asked me to remix the single of this band and I said, “Okay, that’s cool.” Well, the single was like six minutes long and they needed it down to like four minutes, three minutes forty-five seconds, and it just so happened the last two minutes the band had just like kinda played and Steve was just like jammin’ at the end, I mean, playin’ his ass off… And I remember calling John and saying, “John, you gotta come to my house and listen to this cat play guitar, because this guy can play.” I remember me, John and Gary sitting around listening to the last two minutes of this song that I had to chop off and just thinking this guy is incredible. Well, it must have been maybe a year later, we had gone down to Florida and recorded that 303 Sessions. And the guitar player we had at the time after the recording session, we just didn’t feel like he was on the same page with us, he just didn’t seem like we were all going in the same direction creatively. So we just said, “You know, let’s just kick him out of the band and we’ll just fly by the seat of our pants,” and I said, “Well, maybe we’ll give Steve a call.” I called Steve and he was actually just two days himself out of quitting his band, had no other band and he was like, “Cool, send me some stuff,” and we sent him some stuff, he listened to it, called me back and was like, “I am in.” Came up one day before we did our showcases in NY, knew all the songs, we practiced for like two hours and then the next day we were in NYC onstage playing for all these major labels. S&T: Very cool. Neill: And ever since then this band just clicks. We’re best friends, we get along great, we can spend hours and hours and hours in the RV together and not really get on each others nerves… S&T: Good, you’re going to have to (get along), you’re headin’ down to RibFest! Neill: That’s right, that’s right… But it’s cool because we really were able to share a lot of the responsibilities and, it’s cool… Everybody brings such a unique thing, we’re all on the same page musically. It’s like whatever Steve plays or whatever Gary plays, whatever John plays, whatever I play, is exactly what the band is and what we want to hear so it’s not like we’re going, “Well, that’s cool but can you play it different?” Whatever they bring to the table is like what it is and it works out really well that way. S&T: Very good. Well, alright… Neill: Cool? S&T: Yes, very cool… Thanks, Neill, an absolute pleasure. Good luck the rest of the way and we’ll catch up with you again. Neill: Cool, man, I appreciate it. interview by scott sisti |
