THE FREE LANCE-STAR
So whatever happened to Better Than Ezra?
It seems like the New Orleans trio may have fallen off the face of the earth sometime after the release of their fourth album, "Closer," in 2001.
Fond memories of their mid-90s hits "Good" and "In the Blood" crop up every now and then among 20-somethings who reminisce about their high school years, but what has BTE done recently?
It turns out BTE has been up to quite a lot.
Aside from touring pretty consistently for the past three years, the band has been working on all kinds of goodies for faithful fans who have been waiting patiently for something new.
The band is currently on tour to promote a live CD and DVD that came out at the end of September. Both titled "Live at House of Blues New Orleans," the discs showcase BTE where the members are most charismatic and comfortable--on stage in their hometown. The set was recorded in August of last year.
Singer and guitarist Kevin Griffin, drummer Travis McNabb and bass player Tom Drummond will bring their lively and engaging stage show to the 9:30 Club in Washington tomorrow night. Ingram Hill and The Silos will open.
The members of BTE have worked hard to be just as good at entertaining as they are at playing their instruments, and it shows on the live recordings.
"Our live show is probably what has sustained us over the years between labels and that kind of thing," Griffin said in a phone interview earlier this week.
BTE's first three albums--1995's "Deluxe," 1996's "Friction, Baby" and 1998's "How Does Your Garden Grow"--were released by Elektra Records. The band and the label parted ways after the latter two discs failed to achieve the same success as "Deluxe," which went platinum.
The band then signed with Beyond Records, which released "Closer" before declaring bankruptcy.
It took a couple years to disengage from Beyond, but now BTE has found a new home at Artemis Records, which will release an album of brand spankin' new BTE music in March. Two new songs are included at the end of the live CD.
Lucky fans who have gotten a sneak preview of the yet-to-be-named album have responded extremely well.
"Everyone so far is blown away not only by the songs, but by the sound," Griffin said.
Tim Palmer, who mixed the album and has previously worked with U2 among others, "makes these wonderfully layered mixes with lots of things going on and lots of ear candy" that's a little different from past BTE material, Griffin said.
The album is a balance between "straight ahead poppier" tunes like those that appeared on "Closer" and more "left of center, murky" songs that filled "Garden," he said.
As if the live stuff and the new album weren't enough, a greatest-hits album will come out next year. The tentative release date is sometime in February, Griffin said, but he hopes it will come out after the new album.
It's weird to have a greatest-hits album, Griffin said, because now he realizes how long the band has existed.
It hasn't been that long since BTE exploded onto the alternative music scene nine years ago, but "bands are often judged in dog years," Griffin said. "We've been around 63 years in dog years."
They've been making music even longer than that--the original lineup, which included Griffin and Drummond, formed during their freshman year at Louisiana State University in 1988.
The members may feel like senior citizens when compared to younger acts, but BTE's music still has a place, both on the radio and in the hands of the band's ginormous fan base of "Ezralites."
With nothing to prove, BTE is in a comfortable position and prepared for whatever happens next.
A major label worked well for BTE when the guys were in their mid-20s, but an independent label is a better fit now that they're in their mid-30s and fewer people are buying their albums.
The tendency of major labels to measure the quality of a band's music by how many copies an album sells is like saying McDonald's has the best food in the world because so many people buy it, Griffin said.
Just because an act is not as lucrative as say, Lindsay Lohan, Griffin said, that doesn't mean it's not profitable.
His favorite albums of the past year--he cites work by Ray LaMontagne, Interpol and Damien Rice as examples--are "brilliant, wonderful" albums that may never go gold, let alone platinum.
"It's kind of lame that something like music is judged by economic standards," he said.
That said, the members of BTE certainly wouldn't turn their noses up at another platinum album, but they also wouldn't be disappointed if they don't reach that point.
"We're so confident and pleased with what we do and how we do it, and we know our fans love it, and if by some great chance a song hit on the radio and we sold a ton of albums--awesome," Griffin said. "If it doesn't, we're used to it."
To reach EMILY GILMORE: 540/374-5426 egilmore@freelancestar.com