Crush On Econoline Crush

Trevor Speaks

I typed this up myself, so some names might be spelt wrong. Everything else is pretty much word-for-word. Enjoy!

Rockline

(All That You Are is played)

Bob: You know, Vancouver BC's Econoline Crush is familiar with success already. They're on their third American Tour, they've won the only fan voted Canadian Juno Award, and they're on their third hit single from this latest album 'The Devil You Know'. Rockline welcomes from Econoline Crush vocalist Trevor Hurst. Hi, Trevor.

Trevor: How ya doin?

Bob: I'm doing great, nice to have ya here. And guitar player in the band, Ziggy, welcome to Rockline.

Ziggy: Hi.

Bob: And Don Yaremko who plays the bass. Hi Don, how are you?

Dan: It's Dan.

Bob: It's Dan? Oh, I'm sorry, man!

Trevor: It's--it'ssssDan. We call him SsssDan.

Bob: (laughs) SssDan. Thank you very much.

Trevor: (laughs)

Bob: And John Haro, on the drumkit. Hi John, how are you tonight?

John: Hey, what's happenin?

Bob: Just rockin' and rollin'. Here, lemme throw a couple of questions here.. you guys are in Atlanta tonight first of all. Let me set the geographical setting for those listening.

Trevor: Yes, we are in Atlanta. It's a beautiful night in Atlanta. We have only been here for about 10 minutes, but... so far it's good.

Bob: Did you guys have a little weather to go through flying in there tonight?

Trevor: We did have some weather. We had planes, trains, and automobiles. We left Vancouver this morning, and we've been in all kinds of vehicles, but we're here now and we're feelin'.... (deep breathy voice) goooood.

Bob: It's all good. It's all good! The tour, you're playing predominantly clubs and everything. How's it goin'? I mean this is not your first time around here in the States. How are things going so far? Your evaluation.

Trevor: I think it's been very positive. I think the coolest thing about it is, that we're one of those bands that is very fortunate to have kind of a 2 country base, a split base so we were able to kinda do the club scene, and then work our way up to you know, sort of a theatre or a large venue kind of situtation in Canada. And now to come back to the States and start again in clubs is.. some bands don't like it, but this band, Econoline Crush, everybody loves to play the clubs. We like to get to know our fans. We like to get to know, you know, the people that support our band. So, for us, this has been really cool and this, being our third tour you know, it's just a building process and it gets more fun everytime you go out there. Because everytime, you know, you're meeting some similar people that you've met the time before, make re-aquantince with friends, and you're also meetin' some new people. So it's been really positive for the band.

Bob: I gotta tell ya, I really love this cd, 'The Devil You Know'. There are just a ton of great songs on here. Surefire, and Razorblades and Bandaides, and I really like Burnt, and the song we just played - All That You Are. There've been some lineup changes over the past couple of years. Is this the new streamlined Econoline, Trevor?

Trevor: (laughing) Yeah, this is the lean mean fightin' machine! No it is, you know what it does? I think the road plays a big part in deciding who can you know, can kinda tough it out, and who's not maybe up to the task. I think that we've y'know, spent a lot of time on the road and it's worn out some people, and made others, you know, stronger. And better players. And I think that as a band, after surviving so many years on the road and we just.. we know what we like, we know what we wanna do, and we know how to do it.

Bob: You know, I know you guys have played with a lot of bands in the past and everything, and I know one of the bands you played with was Stabbing Westward, which is where you got John. How did he become part of Econoline Crush?

Trevor: Johnny, let 'em know all about it.

John: Well I immediately hit it off with the boys and dropped 'em my phone number and said, Hey, you know. If you guys ever need my services give me a call down in LA. So, sure enough, few months went by, I was y'know, doing.. nothing. Nah, I was doing the usual stuff of just recording and..

Trevor: Being a musician in LA.

John: Exactly. Scrambling around, spinnin' my wheels. Anyway, Trevor gave me a call and said "Johnny, we want you." I'm like, "Right arm, let's do it!". (laughter)

Bob: Left arm too, for that matter. I'm on my way!

John: Yeah.

Bob: Yeah. This album was released back in 1997, and you've really gotten some great mileage out of this. Is this more than you expected, Trevor, or is this the game plan that you hoped for in the beginning?

Trevor: I think.. I think that it's a bit of both. I think that it's.. you know, you never really know what's gonna happen. You hope that you get significant mileage out of an album, but you never know. And, when we went in to make this record, we never sent out to do anything except be true to the songs. We'd spent a lot of time just writing, and we really wanted to just concentrate on the song writing aspect of our band. We left it up to Sylvia, Sylvia Massey - who did a great job producing the record - to kinda glue all the songs together and make it seem like an album. Because for us, we just kind of followed each thought, each idea, each song to it's conclusion. But we never really looked at it as a whole package.

Bob: We're gonna play a song from the cd right now. In fact, this actually starts the cd. It's called Surefire, by Econoline Crush.. on Rockline.

(song is played)

Bob: Econoline Crush, on Rockline. Surefire is the name of that. It starts off the cd, and it helps start us off the Econoline Crush portion of the program tonight. Your number's toll free, 1-800-344-ROCK. From Dayton Ohio, it's Rachel on the line. Rachel, here's Econoline Crush for ya. I think Trevor's gonna answer the questions.

Trevor: Hi, Rachel.

Rachel: Hello.. umm..

Trevor: How are you?

Rachel: I'm just fine. (nervous laughter)

Trevor: (laughs)

Rachel: I was just wondering, ok, if the year 2000 were actually the end of the world, what would you do to make it go out in style?

Trevor: Whoa. What I would do to make it go out in style if the year 2000 was actually the end of the world? If it was actually the end of the world, I think I would be quite surprised, so it might take me off-guard. But if I was gonna go out in style, I think I'd borrow a pair of Ziggy's leopard print nut huggers and run wild through the streets.

Bob: (laughs) That's one way to go, yeah. Yeah I certainly don't expect the end of the world. Maybe a couple computers crashing here and there. I don't wanna be in a hospital, y'know, or in a... y'know.. at an airport.

Trevor: I don't want to be hooked up to life support during the course of you know, 1999 goin into the year 2000. But, other than that I'm feeling quote confident we'll all be here.

Bob: Yeah, yeah. I think a lot is being made about possibly nothing, but.. nobody knows for sure and I guess that's part of the fun and the excitement and the mystery of it all. Rachel, thank you for being on. A call from Toronto, it's Connie on the line. Connie, you're on with Econoline Crush on Rockline.

Connie: Hey!

Trevor: Hi Connie!

Connie: Hi.. do you find that Canadians and Americans usually have different musical tastes?

Trevor: (laughs) Yeah.. yeah.. I think there's a great deal of different musical tastes. Umm..

Bob: What do you think the difference is, Trevor?

Trevor: Well.. I think that, y'know, obviously we're 2 different nations with 2 different cultures, and a ton of different influences. And.. I think that there's a number of things that contribute to the whole thing. You know.. being Canadian we grew up listening to an entirely different group of musicians than say, so much as the Americans had spent growing up and listening to. Umm.. it's really hard, I mean it's hard to compare all the different things, but I think culture plays a big part in it. I think that American culture and Canadian culture are vastly different. I think that Canada's a.. y'know, we're very sort of staid.. and sometimes, you know, polite, shy, kind of vibe country. And America's very over-the-top, and aggressive and.. go get 'em. So I think those 2 different cultures play into the music and the tastes of the 2 different countries.

Bob: I agree with that. There's a brashness about America certainly.. and a little more reserve in Canada. And for Americans who may not -

Trevor: That was--

Bob: Go ahead.

Trevor: I was gonna say, that was a gross generalization (laughs) but you know..

Bob: Yeah.. I mean, y'know, I mean you can't really talk about individuals when you're talking about whole countries.. but..

Trevor: Yep.

Bob: But the point I was gonna get to is I think that a lot of Americans aren't aware of something called CanCon, which is Canadian Content.. which is the fact that Canadian radio over the years.. there has to be a certain amount of Canadian artists meeting certain criteria to be played on the radio there. Which exposes you really, to more musicians from your own home country than we would get down here where there aren't those laws.

Trevor: Definately. I think that those laws play in the development of certain acts, and also in some ways.. y'know, I would say it props up some mediacroty too. You know, it engourages and has an industry that's... that's sometimes based on government grants and CanCon. And you have acts that can sort of sustain a living eeking out a living in Canada, and Canada alone. But I think for the more ambitious bands, CanCon and factor grants and government grants and stuff, don't really mean a lot to bands like Econoline Crush and y'know, bands like Our Lady Peace. Y'know, we've always.. I think if you look at those bands and bands that have succeeded outside of the borders of Canada, we've always been citizens of the world, and I think that we've always.. y'know, we're proud to be Canadian and we're proud of our heritage, but I prefer to make music that reflects more the state of the world, rather than the state of just one nation.

Bob: There you go, Connie, a very good answer for your question. And a reminder everybody that gets on the air tonight gets a copy of Loudmouth's self-titled album, courtesy of Hollywood Records. Or Econoline Crush's "The Devil You Know", courtesy of Restless Records. We'll be back with more with Econoline Crush live rock and roll, coming up in just a second here on Rockline.

Bob: And welcome back to Rockline. I'm Bob Coburn, and we are with Econoline Crush right now. We got a ton of phone calls to the band. Including Samantha in Lincoln, Nebraska. Welcome to Rockline, Samantha.

Samantha: Thank you! Hi Trevor, it's Samantha, your little hockey nut!

Trevor: Samantha! How are you, dahling?

Samantha: I'm doin' good, baby, how are you?

Trevor: The playoffs are on and how are you feelin' about it?

Samantha: Well, I'm sorry to see that your Fliers lost tonight.

Trevor: Listen.. they'll be back. They'll be back! Oh, everybody that's listening wants to know, but Samantha is the crazy American hockey fan and she also rocks like there's no tomorrow. What's your station?

Samantha: The Blaze, KIVC, yes.

Trevor: The Blaze.

Bob: Are you on the air, there, Samantha?

Samantha: Yeah, actually I am.

Bob: Ah, how cool!

Samantha: Yeah! So I had to call, Trevor, and find your insights to Wayne retiring.

Trevor: Oh. Good question. You know what? He... Wayne Gretzky.. as a professional althlete, I think is unparalleled in any sport, no matter what it is. I think his whole career has been nothing but a class act. I think that he did for the game of hockey what y'know, Michael Jordan brought to basketball, and umm..

John: Jimi Hendrix to rock and roll.

Trevor: Right on!

(laughter)

Trevor: Exactly! Johnny knows. Yeah, I think Wayne Gretzky's the best, the greatest.

Bob: He left with such class and elegance.. it's really admirable.

Trevor: Oh, really! I met him once in Edmonton when he was.. it was his 26th birthday party and he was a very entertaining man. As equally as entertaining as he was on the ice. He's a great guy and I wish him all the best in his retirement.

Bob: You know, it was really a contrast watching, really, three althetic careers possibly come to an end. Dennis Rodman, Daryll Strawberry. Rodman with his fits and his peak and his.. lost shoes and everything..

Trevor: (laughing)

Bob: And Strawberry back in trouble with the law.. and then you look at Wayne Gretzky. I mean.. ehh it's just night and day. Samantha, thank you, we're gonna talk with Shauna in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Shauna you're on Rockline with Econoline Crush.

Shauna: Hi guys

Trevor: Hi, how are ya?

Shauna: Oh, good. You were amazing at last years Edgefest in Saskatoon.. just had to say that.

Trevor: Thank you!

Shauna: My question is, when you make a new album, are you planning on more of a pop feel, like All That You Are (X3), or back to the more industrial stuff like on the Purge EP?

Trevor: Wow.. umm..

Bob: A true fan.

Trevor: I think that judging by what we're working on right now, it's kind of a combination of all those things and more. I think the band has all these elements, y'know, within us, to write all different kinds of music, but I think that.. I dunno. I mean Dan and Ziggy and I have been workin' on all kinds of stuff lately and I find that most of it. I dunno, what do you think, guys? I mean it's pretty much..

Dan: It's still heavy.

Trevor: It's still heavy. It's still got groove. It's kinda got a sexy groove.. I dunno. I dunno where we're goin' with it. That's the great thing about being in this band, is that you never know where it's gonna end up or what's gonna happen. You go into the studio and you just have to hope for the best, fingers crossed. (laughing)

Bob: Well y'know, just listening to this cd, 'The Devil You Know', the band takes you a lot of places just on this one cd. It's not just one groove and one type of music. I mean there are a lot of different types of songs on here. Shauna, thanks for being on. We're gonna talk with Tim. He is in the Appleton, Wisconsin area, and speaking of sporting teams, a pretty good football team a little east of there called the Packers. Welcome to Rockline, Tim.

Tim: Hi. Hi guys, how ya doin'?

Trevor: Pretty good, Tim, how you doin'?

Tim: I'm good. I heard you guys on the radio about a year ago, and I told my friends all about you and now they all love you.

Trevor: Go on... (laughs)

Tim: My question for you is.. is the dog in the song "Home" real?

Trevor: Is the dog in the song "Home" real?

Tim: Yeah.

Trevor: Well.. it is real, it was real. It's also a metaphor but I mean the whole deal, the idea for the song came when I actually.. we'd been working on the song for quite some time, and I didn't like the verses. But I liked the chorus that I had, and I was working on it at home, and it was raining - as per usual in Vancouver - and I went to go to the store and I saw this dog that was soaking wet, this Sheltie that was completely soaking wet. And I was thinking, oh man I should take that dog home, y'know, it's probably gonna get run over if I leave it out here.. but then it's gonna stink - look at it. And then the owner came up and thanked me and said "Hey, thanks for grabbing my dog." and.. took it away. So it's actually, truthfully, the dog did bring about the line, which.. brought about the verse.

Bob: And we will hear the line right now, because we're gonna play "Home" by Econoline Crush.. on Rockline.

(song is played)

Bob: Econoline Crush. Home is the name of that song. I really like this cd. Econoline Crush does not sound like anybody but themselves. We have a call from Fargo in North Dakota. Jason is on Rockline. Hi, Jason.

Jason: Hey.. how's it goin', guys?

Trevor: Jason! You know what, I grew up not too far from there?

Jason: Really?

Trevor: In Manitoba.

Jason: Oh, okay.

Trevor: Yeah.. so what's happening?

Bob: Homeboys.

Trevor: (laughs)

Jason: Not much, my question for you guys is, I'm a fan of The Crow TV series and I saw you guys pop up on an episode recently, and I was wonderin' if like, they contacted you guys, or you guys were fans of the show and you really wanted to do it and got a hold of them?

Trevor: It was actually - we had a few days - they shoot it in Vancouver, where we live, and um, we had a few days off and they were looking for... a band, and they came and approached us, and we of course were very excited about being a part of that show because, y'know, A, it's shot there, and B, to be supportive of a show shot in Vancouver. But also 'cause, y'know, the idea of The Crow is pretty cool. And so we went and did it. The staff and everybody else involved in the show was really great to the band, and we had a blast. Ziggy was gonna fight the guy that plays the crow, but he backed down. Zig scared him.

Bob: (laughs) Must've been the pants!

Ziggy: Yeah, it was. It was the pants. That's exactly what it was. How'd you know?

Bob: Just telepathy I think.

Trevor: (laughs)

Bob: Jason, thanks for being on. I know you guys have hooked up with Lifestyles Condoms, and you mentioned the TV show, The Crow. Do you guys have any plans to shoot a commercial for the condoms? Or is this just kind of a concert sponsorship that you have with them?

Trevor: It's just a.. right now it's just a concert sponsorship. Yeah, it's basically, you know, a number of shows. They're trying to raise some awareness for a new product that they're launching, and also at the same time--the reason we got involved was just because I think that there's an alarming kinda lack of information. It seems like there's a lack of warning right now about STDs. I don't think--I think people kind of put it on the back burner, and they're, y'know, they're not really concerned about it right now. So I think that we're just trying to raise some awareness and do this concert thing. And hopefully, y'know, people will just remember, y'know.. play safe. That's all we're trying to say.

Bob: Go ahead and play, but play safe. Yeah.

Trevor: Yeah.

Bob: Let's take a call from Milwaukee. We have Dan on the line. Dan you're on Rockline with Econoline Crush.

Dan: Hey guys. How's it going?

Trevor: Pretty good.

Dan: Alright, my question for you is, is there a band that you guys have always looked up to, or if not, tried to emulate their sound, or make a sound like them? 'Cause I mean, you guys have a very original sound, but is there a band that you guys look up to that you've always maybe wanted to cover their song but never got the opportunity?

Trevor: Wow.. that's a tough one. I mean there's so many great bands.

John: SO many great bands.

Trevor: So many great bands. The Stones, I mean we, y'know, that's one that unifies us. We like The Stones. What do ya--SssDan, Dan, Dan.. Dan... Dan in Milwaukee, you don't--you're shaking your head.

Dan: I don't know..

Trevor: It's tough.

Dan: We listen to everything, so.

John: It's like an amalgamation.

Trevor: Yeah.

John: Yeah.

Trevor: We can't really--you know what, it's tough to try and emulate somebody. I think you're kinda behind the 8-ball sort of when you do that. I think we really--we just try and do our own thing. But there's so many bands, great bands, I think that have come along, you know, and influenced us, definately. We all grew up listening to 80s music, so y'know, there was punk, in that timeframe, and there was also like, The Cult, and INXS, and U2, and The Cure, and..

Dan: Bad Metal.

Trevor: Bad Metal.

Bob: (laughs) Bad Metal.

Trevor: I don't remember those guys. What did they look like?

(laughter)

John: I kinda remember 'em..

Trevor: You were in Bad Metal! (laughs)

John: In Sunset Strip. I remember all that stuff.

Bob: (laughs) John was there. He saw it first-hand.

John: I'm a survivor.

Trevor: (laughs)

Bob: There ya go. Thanks, SsDan for being on Rockline, we appreciate it. Dan from Milwaukee there. We're gonna talk to Chuck, he's in the Flintsagana, Michigan area. And.. you're on the show with Econoline Crush. Hi Chuck.

Chuck: Hey... how is it?

Trevor: Hi Chuck! Whoa! (laughs)

Chuck: Uh.. my question is... uhh..

Trevor: Yeah..

Chuck: What is the devil you know... and do you believe in the devil?

Trevor: Oh, my. Chuck, Chuck..

(laughter)

Bob: And is it the devil you know, or is it, the devil, you know?

Trevor: It's the devil you know. The connotations, I like--we always like the connotations. And it was always a saying, you know, when I grew up. It was the devil you know, versus the devil you don't know. So I was just trying to make a comment to.... y'know..... the devil! No, I wasn't. I was trying to make a comment to my ex girlfriend at the time goin', Hey I'm the devil you know, man! What's up? Look at me - I'm not THAT bad! You could be goin' out with WORSE!

Bob: Yeah. The devil you don't know!

Trevor: She didn't buy it. She didn't buy it, Chuck. She didn't buy it for a minute, so uh..

Bob: She didn't.

Trevor: So uhh.. down with the devil! Striper, dude.

Bob: There you go.

(laughter)

Bob: Chuck, thanks for being on. We're gonna play a song now that I know for sure is one of Trevor's favourites off the album. Razorblades and Bandaides.. by Econoline Crush on Rockline.

(song is played)

Bob: And Rockline returns. I'm Bob Coburn with Econoline Crush, and we pretty much reached the end of the evening. I wanna thank everybody for listening and for calling. Also, thanks to Joey Scallari and Mark Freedenburg at Hollywood Records, Sal Delayo and Steve Young at WAXQ in New York City, Loraine Journey, and Greg at APC Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. Drew Murray, at Restless Records. And to everybody in Econoline Crush. To Trevor, and Ziggy, and Dan, and John. Thanks for bein' on tonight and I wish you continued success with the American tour.

John: Thanks.

Bob: And I can't wait to hear the next one, 'cause this one's outstanding, you guys. Thanks for being on the show tonight.

Trevor: Hey, thank you very much.

Bob: I'm BC..

Trevor: Thanks for havin' us!

Bob: You betcha. I'm BC, and I'll be seein' ya!

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