Interview With The Cla-Zels ~ Two Headed Monster Melodic Rock
~ Wendy Oakley~
Miss Joan Whittaker, wind-swept from New York to Helsinki, carries her guitar Bluebird. Jason Erickson, steeped in mid-western guitar magic, meets her in Ohio and they become The Cla-Zels. Representing two distinct songwriting voices, each are capable of rock and roll extremes; there are moments of poignance, of goofy funk, of sheer metal terror. But the music always feels cohesive, with both of them reeling out strings of catchy melodies—the kind of sing-along stuff that gets installed right into your brain, but in a good sweet way, and besides, you should take your medicine. Blues rock and metal riffing shift into power pop, then breakdown into roots-y southern mud. The Cla-Zels hope to use guitar echoes from all over time and space to carve themselves into a Mt. Rushmore with a handful of icons…The Beatles, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac…stone-solid bands driven by two-headed monsters.
Miss Joan and Jason from the Cla-Zels spent a lazy Sunday morning hanging out at College Hill Coffee Co. talking about their upcoming cd I Own Hawaii……
When did you first know you were hooked on making music?
Miss Joan: I remember my first band, I was 13 and we were covering Argent “Hold Your Head Up”. It was the very first moment when things came together and sounded really good. I knew that’s what I had to do my whole life.
Jason: The first time my whole band played one of my songs I literally couldn’t get through thirty seconds of it, I was laughing so hard – I couldn’t believe how cool it sounded!
Miss Joan: There’s this connection that happens with the people in your band and everyone in a room when things are right with the music. It’s so cool when people identify with your music, too. That happens a lot with the song “German Soldier”. They can relate to it. That’s when I know I’ve written a good song and it makes me want to write more.
How did you come up with the name of your band?
Miss Joan: The Clazel is a theater in Bowling Green, Ohio where I grew up and Jason went to college. Now it’s a national venue – a beautiful, old theater. Bowling Green, Ohio has this thriving little main street – such a cool little town! I remember having a Thursday pass all summer for movies there and the last Thursday before school started they’d give you a little Snoopy pencil box. We decided to have our CD release for I Own Hawaii at the Clazel on May 14th.
How has meeting each other changed your music/life?
Miss Joan: We’ve been playing together for over 13 years. I think I became a much better songwriter as far as imagery is concerned – learning to add concrete images that are open to interpretation by anyone who hears them. You can hear any lyric and apply it to your own story. It’s about connecting with the audience.
Jason: Yes, I like to give the listeners good images in a song that sound good as you say them – the sound of the word may be the most important thing. Meeting Joan has definitely made me more responsible. I’m taking good care of myself and more likely to take care of business with the band – make the call to get the gig, etc.
How do you approach the songwriting process?
Miss Joan: Well, the process of writing the kid’s record was very different from the others. I was very disciplined. I wrote out ten titles, then all the lyrics to the songs, then the music. I would sit down every Friday night with a bottle of wine and a baguette with cheese as a reward when I finished working. The rock songs are very different. They come all different ways. You can be doing the most mundane of things and a great song will just come to you. The songs for I Own Hawaii are a combination of songs that Jason and I had written and combined on one album. When I wrote “Bluebird” I was at a nature preserve walking one day and it just started to come so I called home and left the song on my answering machine. It took six messages or so. I had the melody and the lyrics and Jason sat down and worked out all of the chords for me on that one. I thought of the middle horn part in “Spain” while driving one day and just played it over and over in my head until I made it home to capture it. There’s a song that will be on our upcoming album In A Canyon that I heard in my sleep one night. I just woke up and wrote it down as quickly as I could. When we first met we would challenge each other to write a song using a certain word in the song or the title. That’s where the song “Just Like Frankenstein” came from. There is always this little fear that lingers that this may be the last song I ever get to write.
Jason: I went through a period of time a few years ago where I made myself write everyday and though most of it was comedy I came to consider myself a writer through that process. I believe that we have a responsibility to capture that which the muse gives us. I have great respect for the muse. She can come at any time in any form and you have to be ready.
Where did you record this album and what sound were you going for?
Miss Joan: We started out at Lousche with Dale Smith – where we had recorded my last project – a kids album.
Jason: We really liked him as an engineer and so we started on I Own Hawaii there. Through the process, though, we had decided to take the album in a different direction. We went to Waycross Studio to take advantage of the Pro Tools setup and record digitally instead of on tape. Tape is great for that warm sound but we needed to step it up and save some time by going the digital route on this one. I played bass and guitar on all of the tracks. Todd Buck from Waycross is amazing and so tech savvy. He saved us a lot of time in the studio.
What advice would you give to those out there involved in a band?
Jason: It’s really important that everyone learns their parts and comes to practice prepared to play as a group. It’s too difficult on the group if every player is not ready to play the songs.
How do you describe your sound?
Miss Joan: I remember when Elton John and Led Zepplin was rock n’ roll. Everything was just rock n’ roll. It’s harder to describe by today’s terms but we are rock n’ roll.
This is an album from a band with multiple songwriters and front people. I would say it is very much a Fleetwood Mac setup. It’s quite melodic. Two headed monster melodic rock.
Jason: I think we’re very eclectic as most songwriters today are, though I believe we’re a little more stylistically diverse than the average band. This album is different from many out there in that there is a strong female presence and then a strong male presence on this album. I would describe this one as a pop rock revolver sound but with heavier guitar tones. The next album In A Canyon will be a much more rootsy sound…more jamming with longer solos and tracks.
April 20, 2010 ~ Cincinnati CD Release Party @ The Comet
www.ceilidhgroup.org Isn’t It A Wonder Charity CD
