Show & Tell - S&T chats with Boris of Epidemic

BORIS of EPIDEMIC
06.06.02

Epidemic: A rapid spread, growth, or development.

Just a few days before heading out with Nickelback and Jerry Cantrell on their first national tour, Epidemic front man Boris B spoke to Show & Tell about old names, new names and getting out of Los Angeles.

Show & Tell: Hey Boris, where you calling from?

Boris: I’m in LA.

S&T: Are you on the road already or still home?

B: No, we’re [still home]. We’re leaving this weekend, playing our first show in Baltimore on July 12th. We’re getting ready for the road. We haven’t really played any gigs yet. We played the Viper Room in LA a few weeks ago.

S&T: Is that pretty much your home club?

B: No, not really. We don’t really have [a home club]. We used to play The Troubador, that’s kind of our place. We’re ready to go out of LA.

S&T: You’re still based out of LA, though?

B: Yeh, we all live here, we like it here. It’s a great city but the crowd gets old after a while. It’s time to get out and play for some fresh new people.

S&T: What’s it going to be like touring without the benefit of the album being out especially on a high profile tour like this?

B: It’s exactly what we’re used to. We’re not used to being known or having people know our music. It’s gonna be natural, it’s gonna be fine; however it’s gonna be we’ll take it. Our record comes out the 25th [June] and we’ll be getting some attention by that time.

S&T: Can you talk a bit about the original name? American Murder?

B: Yeh, we used to be called "American Murder" which we thought was a great name, but after 9/11 we started doubting it. Not because we didn’t like the name at all any more but because it’s so easy to misinterpret it. We would just be spending all our time explaining the name and we didn’t feel like it so we decided to change it. It wasn’t an easy decision but we had to do it otherwise it would have made our lives miserable with that name.

S&T: It’s the state of things, you have to be so careful now.

B: Oh yeh.

S&T: How’s Elektra been?

B: Great, Elektra rules. I mean I love it there, they let us make the music we wanna make, they’re really open to our suggestions. We just did a video with a director we picked.

S&T: Who did you work with?

B: His name is John Richard. He’s a new guy, never done a big video before.

S&T: This is a guy you wanted?

B: Yeh, he’s a friend of mine. He’d made a video for another band I was in, an unsigned band here in LA. He’d never gotten his break yet, but now he did.

S&T: For which song?

B: "Walk Away" our single?

S&T: The first song.

B: Yeh, there’s a video of it now, you can see it on MuchMusic. It should be on MTV2 in a few weeks.

S&T: It’s almost like you need to find an alternative means of getting a video seen. What about the internet as a marketing tool?

B: Yeh, I’m all for it. I’m on my computer all day long. I use email a lot. Definitely.

S&T: Do you guys have anything to do with your own web site?

B: Yes, we have two web sites. The EpidemicBand.com site? That’s our own web site. The drummer’s brother made that. It’s really artsy and very cool, we like it. And then Elektra made a web site, EpidemicOnline.com, which is more information and pictures, a little brighter but there’s a lot of stuff on there that’s cool like message boards and stuff.

S&T: We do a large chunk of our research online. Actually, while preparing for this, we saw that there’s a quite a few other Epidemic bands out there.

B: There’s one Epidemic band that I can’t talk about because there’s some legal shit going on and then there was an old Epidemic metal band that hasn’t done anything in a while. The trademark was available, let me put it that way.

S&T: And there’s one out of Australia.

B: It’s funny, it never came up before we started making noise. I’m not sure I should talk too much about it.

S&T: That's cool.

S&T: If I was going to describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard you, what would I say? As fans we always want to categorize but it also helps people to "if you kind of like this you’ll like that."

B: I have no problem with categorization. It’s impossible to listen to every piece of music so you gotta give it a name. I don’t mind. I think describing our music we’d say rock, song-oriented rock, new rock or whatever. Cool lyrical content if you’re into that, if not fine.

S&T: In terms of construction of the music everybody has an equal say in it?

B: Absolutely, everybody’s equal in our band and we do everything unanimously. Everybody has to be happy with everything that’s going on. We feel that that way it’s going to last longer.

S&T: Would you sit together and put songs together or does somebody show up with a riff?

B: It usually starts with Bruce coming up with chord progressions and we go from there adding beats. I’ll start adding lyrics and melodies and then we go from there. Take turns arranging, stripping down stuff, adding stuff.

S&T: And how was the actual production of it, working with Rick Parashar [Pearl Jam, Nickelback]?

B: Really good, we tried to be do it like the Beatles, get behind each other’s instruments and stuff and just be brutal with each other and honest and have no egos about it.

It’s hard. It’s not always easy because you get shot down a lot but it definitely helps you to be better at what you do. We came a long way making this record.

S&T: You sound really positive about things and it sounds like you’re really being taken care of.

B: Yeh, I mean, you’re there when it happens. A lot of bands went into things that they didn’t think through or something, I don’t know, but I’m happy at this point, definitely. I hope it stays that way!

S&T: We’ll catch up with you in six months and ask again.

B: Yeh, we’ll talk in six months!

S&T: Being happy with your situation, do you think it has more to do with your intent as a band? Like during negotiations you were clearer than maybe some younger bands might be? You seem to have a handle on where you want to go as a band. Maybe some of the younger bands are just thrilled to be signed.

B: It was a big step to get on a major label but to me it was just the natural step for what we wanted to do next with our music, get it out to as many people as possible. And Elektra gets it, doesn’t want to style us or change the music or anything.

S&T: I’ve been listening to the CD. "Undercurrent" is probably my favorite song.

B: That’s one of the older songs, definitely the early American Murder vibes right there, one of those drum beats that goes straight through, you know? That’s definitely a good signature Epidemic song I think.

S&T: So some of these were older...

B: Yeh, we’ve been writing for like two years. For instance "Undercurrent" is probably two years old whereas "Individual" got written in February.

S&T: It's really cohesive considering stuff was written so far apart.

B: The actual whole record you’re supposed to listen to like a song too. I mean no one really listens to a record 45 minutes in a row everyday, I understand, but if you ever do it’s worth it, it’s pretty cool how it runs.

S&T: There was intent there?

B: Absolutely. We puzzled a long time about the actual sequence of the songs.

S&T: And what is it about the sequence that makes it work?

B: The intensity of the songs, the pauses between songs and the actual keys the songs are in. Some bands have a whole record in one key and it gets kinda dull. We tried to keep it spicy, keep it interesting. I hope we succeeded.

S&T: You seem like the kind of guy that can’t sit still, that you need things to change and shift and not be the same.

B: I like change but there’s also people in this band that don’t like change that much. That’s a good combination I think. All the other bands I was in we were all being progressive and experimental and after the fact when I look back it’s like "What were we thinking?"

S&T: Like you should have dummied it up for the listener?

B: No, no, no... not at all. There’s that fine line. I mean I couldn’t even tell what the hell I was thinking listening to the music! I had no idea what I was doing. I’d like it to be more accessible, you know. And with this record we managed to do that.

These are kind of like our footprints in the sand. When we’re gone this is what we leave, these songs. And more people will be able to relate to it and that’s a great thing I think.

S&T: Absolutley, there’s a lot of stuff on here that hits a broad spectrum of listeners.

S&T: This is your first national tour, right?

B: We’ve only played in LA with this band, we’ve never been outside of LA before.

S&T: So anybody nervous or is everybody excited?

B: Everybody’s totally excited, we can’t wait to get out of town, play for some other people.

S&T: Where are you most looking forward to going?

B: I don’t actually know, I have no idea what to expect. I hear all these great things. We’re playing festivals in Milwaukee and Cleveland...

S&T: There’s some great fans of music in the midwest.

B: We hear from bands that it’s great to play in the midwest, people still really appreciate music.

S&T: I appreciate your time, Boris, I won’t take any more of it. Good luck to you.

B: Alright, dude, later on.

interview by scott sisti