Eric Kretz: “Scott Weiland was my best friend”

Sacado de // From: http://portalternativo.com and http://www.alternativenation.net

Brett Buchannan de Alternative Nation ha tenido la oportunidad de departir con Eric Kretz, batería de Stone Temple Pilots, con quien ha hablado de pasado, presente y futuro del grupo, rememorando sus inicios en la banda o su amistad con Scott Weiland.

De su audición para entrar en Swing, la banda previa a STP en la que estaban Scott Weiland, Robert DeLeo, Corey Hickok y Britt Willet:

Dios, creo que fue en el 86 o 87. Yo tocaba en varias bandas en Long Beach donde me había mudado desde San Jose, California. Así que empezó en Long Beach y dándome cuenta de lo difícil que es encontrar una banda que inspire la música que quieres hacer decidí poner un anuncio en una revista de por ahí, “Batería disponible”. Robert me llamó y hablamos por teléfono de 2 a 3 horas de todo, desde Steely Dan a Led Zeppelin, de Mahavishnu Orchestra a Neal Part pasando por Bill Bruford. Las similitudes eran tan increíbles y el hecho de que él creciera en New Jersey y yo en la costa oeste en San Jose pero creciéramos con el mismo tipo de música (era increíble). Me decía que en su primer año del instituto se metió en el “Hemisphere” y el “Permanent Waves” de Rush. Tocando en fiestas y ‘riffeando’ esas canciones. Así que organizamos una audición, creo que conocí a Scott antes de la audición. Entonces que en el Sound-o-hull -creo que se llamaba así- yo y Robert nos pusimos con este ritmo funky de bajo y batería. El guitarrista Corey (Hickok) estaba tocando los micros mientras decía, “Oh, estoy conmocionado, estoy conmocionado”. Lo siguiente es él volando en mi batería, con la cara azul, sus zapatos ardiendo. Fue horrible, estaba electrocutándose. Logramos quitar el cable (pero) estaba en mal estado. Afortunadamente sabía que el hospital estaba a la vuelta de la esquina así que fue “seguidme todos” y condujimos al hospital. Y ahí estaba sentado en urgencias y Scott me mira y dice, “Joder, eso fue raro, supongo que eres de la banda”. Sin tocar una canción completa. Creo que les mandé una cinta de vídeo tocando un solo de 10 minutos que vieron pero no creo que llegara a tocar una canción entera antes de que se electrocutara pero se recuperó por completo.

De “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart”, tema del que compuso la música:

En aquellos momentos andaba escuchando mucho Tower of Power. Dave Garibaldi era un batería jodidamente genial, esa clase de (ritmo), componer esa clase de ritmos que hacía. Yo tocaba mucha guitarra por entonces así que cogí la guitarra e hice una especie de cruce entre un poco de Tower of Power, un poco del “Peg” de Steely Dan. Junté todo y empecé a ver que tienes que acentuar el ritmo de batería de 2/4, y luego metiéndole ritmos no convencionales. Recuerdo que alguien me dijo una vez, “Hey tío, un gran estribillo siempre tiene los acentos en los ritmos no convencionales”. Pensé, “sabes qué sería genial, si compones una canción que tiene ritmos graves en el 2/4 y luego en los ritmos no convencionales”. Así que era cosa de jugar con material y montarlo. Tenía una línea de bajo bastante simple. Cuando la monté, Dean se metió enseguida y le mostré a Robert la línea de bajo y lo cogió desde ahí y le añadió algunas notas más. La canción se tocó básicamente como se compuso. Grabamos la canción sin que Scott no le pusiera ni una idea vocal. Scott era capaz de hacer eso a veces, diría que el 30% de las canciones de STP se grabaron así, sin idea preconcebida para la voz. Pero aún teníamos estribillos, puentes, partes a mirar. Entonces Scott, tenía su día milagroso en el estudio, sacando las letras y el resto. Teníamos la canción completa. Por estresante que fuese, algunos grandes éxitos salieron de ese modo.

De como compuso la letra de “Plush” junto a Scott Weiland:

A principios de los 90, Scott era mi mejor amigo, hacía años que éramos compañeros de piso. Siempre discutíamos de poesía, literatura, películas, vida, política, amor, guerra, ¿sabes a lo que me refiero? Era mi mejor amigo. Así que cuando llegó el momento de “Plush” me dijo, “Tío, no sé de qué escribir”. Estábamos de coña en el jacuzzi, en los Oakwood Apartments haciendo “Core” y de hecho ahí había un jacuzzi. Estábamos bebiéndonos unas birras y empezamos a trabajar en material del que siempre hablábamos. La intriga de todo, la intriga de esas cosas: la política del amor, de la literatura, de las películas. Al mismo tiempo tratábamos de rapiñar palabras, hacíamos una especie de cuenta de tu dices una cosa, yo digo otra. O él diciendo algo y yo contrargumentar con algo, era algo muy natural, amigos montando juntos la parte de la letra de una canción.

Del estudio de grabación que abrió cuando los hermanos DeLeo se embarcaron en el proyecto Army Of Anyone:

Yo estaba muy emocionado por montar mi estudio. Podrías decir que estabas montando un estudio pero sabía que quería montar algo especial porque había tenido la suerte de grabar en Record Plants, Southern Tracks, The Village y otros estudios de América. Quería montar algo especial, un lugar con magia. Cuando terminé Bomb Shelter casi de manera instantánea Fu Manchu se metieron ahí, luego fue como un tren en marcha. Entraba el Henry Rollins Show y a la mañana siguiente Slayer, por la tarde Aimee Mann y al día siguiente New York Dolls. Era como, ¡hostia puta! Era lo que quería hacer, hacer un sitio donde no solo hacer música genial sino tener una historia y ser parte de algo. Los 6 u 8 años que estuvo en marcha fueron maravillosos. El año pasado lo vendí, era momento de seguir adelante. La industria musical ha cambiado y todo el mundo trabaja en casa ahora. Tener un estudio de 500 m2 ya no tiene sentido.

IN ENGLISH

Hey Eric, it’s Brett. I actually met you are the rehearsal last month which was great, thank you for doing that.

Oh that’s right Brett, how are you?

I’m good. When I was there I only got to talk to you briefly, but I mentioned the Talk Show song “Ring Twice” to you. What was the inspiration behind that song?

I know I was trying to go for a little something off of Magical Mystery Tour. Lyrically I was definitely kind of going for the dichotomy of Shinto religion as opposed to soldiers fighting in battle. I was reading a bit about the Shinto religion over in Japan and how its separated from Dalism. Not to make it sound too complicated, the samurai soldiers are the biggest religion. They’re so fantastic in how they just sacrifice themselves, to fight with no fear of death because if you die in battle it’s an honor. You don’t want to write about battles like that or death so you try to find hearts and florals to kind sprinkle amongst the lyrics and kind of put that together and put it behind a gritty rock song, if that makes sense.

I never knew there was such a story behind “Ring Twice” after all these years, but I really enjoy that song. Getting into High Rise, “Black Heart” to me is the standout track for you on the EP, your beat really drives the song. Now discuss the process of writing and recording that song. I actually spoke to Dean a few days ago and he said Chester didn’t finish his vocals until 3:45AM.

Oh yeah, that was a late night. Not only that but he had to start Linkin Park rehearsals the next morning for their tour in Asia. It was the last chance we had, and it was the last song. We knew we had to finish or else we couldn’t have a whole EP, it’d only be 4 songs and I don’t think that really constitutes an EP (laughs).

But as far as “Black Heart,” when Robert first started strumming that on acoustic guitar, my foot basically started hitting the floor. It’s almost like a porch stomp, it really gets that energy pumping. Drum wise it kind of fits in there like “Big Bang Baby” or “Hollywood Bitch” where it’s just full in the floor, it’s just a very simplistic drive of the drums. Also when you think about it, chicks really dig a big thunderous floor tom riding in a verse (laughs).  But seriously it’s just a driving song, where it’s just fucking great man. It follows the guitar riff and the bass riff but it also helps drives that as well.

Yeah that song kind of reminds me of “My Sharona,” Aerosmith, and a bit like “Huckleberry Crumble” and “Hickory Dichotomy” off of self-titled.

I love every song you just mentioned. When you play songs like [those] down in South America, oh my god they love to jump during songs, especially songs with those kinds of driving beats. When you play a festival for 60 to 80,000 people, an outdoor festival, and they’re all jumping in unison, you actually feel the ground shake. The energy level just goes up, the crowd participation goes up. It’s really great to sprinkle in our set [some] songs like that, something a little different. They’re not rhythmically complicated, not a lot of polyrhythms or off beats, they’re just really straight ahead and it’s a nice blend in with the rest of the songs during the set.

There’s not much information about you on you on the internet. Actually on your Wikipedia page the picture is a picture I took at the Hollywood Bowl 5 years ago.

That’s right.

There’s not a ton on there. So what’s your musical background, when did you start playing drums and what were some of your early influences?

The first record I got was ELO’s Out of the Blue. Then I started taking drum lessons I think when I was 11 or 12 years old, right around that age. From banging pots and pans, my Mom just said, “You know what, do you want to take drum lessons?” I said sure. Once I started playing drums I took to it extremely well, it seemed very easy. Then you start hearing AC/DC, then eventually you move on and you hear Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin. I just said oh my god, that’s where I’m going. That’s the calling (laughs).

Then from there slowly progressing into the progressive rock phase. A lot of Rush, and then you get into Return to Forever [inaudible]. Then of course, Genesis. Taking it to extremes so when I graduated high school and moved down to Los Angeles I was just kind of getting over my phase of prog rock, and kind of going more back to the roots of early Aerosmith and AC/DC of course who have always stayed consistently great my whole life. There’s periods where sometimes the prog rock, still love it, but there’s times when you get a little tired of it and just say gosh, it’s moving in so many ways. But there’s parts there that can just fatigue your ear if you’re not in the mood for it. Where as you can listen to “TNT” any day any time and it still gets you excited, even if you’re half asleep.

Now getting to when STP formed, information on STP’s early days is very hazy. Scott’s book he released a couple of years ago added even more questions, though there were some good pictures in there. But what is known is that the earliest incarnation of the band was called Swing and it featured you, Scott, Robert, Corey Hickok, and a keyboardist. I think the Tooms brothers or one of them?

It was Britt Willet on keyboards.

Can you tell the story of how you met Scott and Robert and formed the band and what year it was?

God, I think it was ’86 or ’87. I was playing in various bands down in Long Beach, I moved there from San Jose, California. So it began in Long Beach and realizing how hard it is to find a band that is inspiring the music you want to do. I just happened to put an ad in the Recycler magazine down there: ‘Drummer available.’ Robert called me, and man we talked on the phone for 2 to 3 hours about everything from Steely Dan, to Led Zeppelin, to Mahavishnu Orchestra, to Neal Peart, to Bill Bruford. The similarities were so incredible, and the fact that he grew up in New Jersey and I grew up on the west coast in San Jose, but we grew up on the same types of music at the same time. He was saying in junior high school is when he got into Rush’s Hemisphere, and Permanent Waves. Playing parties and kind of riffing out those songs. So then we set up an audition, I think I met Scott once before the audition. Then the Sound-o-hull I think it was called, me and Robert went into this great little funky bass and drum groove. The guitar player Corey [Hickok] was touching the mics saying, “Oh, I’m getting shocked, I’m getting shocked.” The next thing you know he’s flying into my drum kit, his face is turning blue, his shoes are burning. It was horrible, he was fully getting electrocuted. We managed to pull the power cord, he definitely was in bad shape. Luckily I knew where the hospital was around the corner, so I was like everyone follow me and we drove to the hospital. [Then] I’m kind of sitting there in the emergency room and Scott looks and me and [is] like, “Fuck that’s so weird, I guess you’re in the band.”

Even though [Corey] was in the hospital you still made it into the band.

Yeah, without playing a whole song. I think I sent them a videotape too of me doing a 10 minute drum solo that they saw, but I don’t think we even played a full song together before he got electrocuted. But he did fine, he recovered fully.

Do you think you might write some more songs now with the new incarnation of STP?

Definitely yeah, because there’s so much excitement back in the room again.  Actually having downtime that can be constructive, as opposed being in a big swirl of negativity.  I’m looking forward to writing a lot more right now with them.

Did you consider drumming for Army of Anyone, and why didn’t you drum for them?

No, I didn’t consider drumming for them.  The DeLeo brothers were definitely trying, they were out there producing as the DeLeo brothers, they were definitely trying to forge a career as the brothers.  I was really excited about building my studio.  You could say you’re just building a studio, but I knew I wanted to build something special because being fortunate enough to record at at Record Plants, and Southern Tracks, the Village, and other studios throughout America.  [I was like] I want to build [something] special, a place that has magic.  When I finished Bomb Shelter it’s like instantly Fu Manchu was the first band in there, then it was like a freight train it just kept going from there.  When the Henry Rollins Show came in I’d have Slayer in the morning, Aimee Mann in the afternoon, the next day would be the New York Dolls.  It was like, fuck yeah man!  It truly was what I was searching out to do, was to build a place not only to make great music but could actually have a history and kind of be a part of something.  The 6 to 8 years that it was going, it did an amazing thing.  I just sold it last year and kind of said, you know what it’s time to move on.  The music industry’s changed and everyone’s recording at home now.  Having a 6,000 square foot studio just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense any more.

You co-wrote the lyrics to “Plush” with Scott Weiland in a hot tub, according to Dean when I met you guys.  How was it writing lyrics to that song, because that’s the only song in the original incarnation of STP that didn’t just have Scott’s lyrics.

Back in that time in the early 90′s, Scott was my best friend, we were roommates for years.  We would always discuss and argue about poetry, literature, movies, life, politics, love, war, you know what I mean?  He was my best friend.  So when it came time for “Plush” he was like, “Man, I just don’t know what to write about.”  We’re jokingly in a hot tub, we’re sitting at the Oakwood Apartments making that record Core, and they actually had a jacuzzi there.  We’re just drinking a bunch of beers, and just kind of started working on stuff we’d been talking about as friends for so many years.  The intrigue of it all, the intrigue of those things: the politics of love, of literature, of movies.  At the same time [we] were trying to prey on words, we were kind of [doing] a counter thing of you saying one thing, him saying another.  Or him saying something to me and countering with something, it was kind of a very natural way of friends putting together a lyrical song.  Then strangely enough, Opera Man [Adam Sandler’s SNL character] on KROQ was doing that song one year and it was pretty funny (laughs).