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Web Exclusive Interview
Stan Frazier
 Stan Frazier
The
members of Southern California-based quintet Sugar Ray have gone on
record saying that
they've achieved goals "beyond their wildest
dreams." Who's to argue?
by Billy Amendola
The
band has sold over seven million records, they've scored
several
top-ten hits (including the number-ones "Fly" and "Every Morning"), and
they continually sell out concerts around the
world. Currently they're
out on the road with Atlantic label-mates Matchbox Twenty.
We caught
up with Sugar
Ray's multi-talented Stan Frazier, who today is as
enthusiastic about his band's success as he was when he first
started
up all those years ago, with his buddies guitarist Rodney Sheppard,
bassist Murphy Karges, turntablist DJ Homicide,
and lead vocalist Mark
McGrath.
The band's latest release, In The Pursuit Of Leisure,
is their fifth record, and
when Stan Frazier's not in the drum seat,
you can find him playing guitar, singing, and co-writing the
tunes.
MD: You're a busy man on the new record.
Stan: Oh yeah, once again I've been
splitting time between playing drums, guitar, writing, and singing.
MD: Has drumming taken a back
seat?
Stan: Drumming is such a cool thing, but it's great to be able to do everything.
I don't feel
like I lost out or anything. I just feel it's opened up a
whole other door. It's allowed me to start a production company
with my
buddy and songwriter Steve Fox. So besides Sugar Ray, we have a few
projects, including Ashlee Simpson
[Jessica's younger sister]. She has
a deal with Warner Bros., and we'll be writing and producing her
record - and I
will be playing the drums on it.
MD: What's your favorite tune on the new Sugar Ray
record?
Stan:
I'd say "Heaven." That's one of the tunes I wrote with Steve Fox, and I
got to coproduce
it with David Khane. Playing drums on that cut was
cool because it goes from the programmed verse loops, to me coming
in
on the live drums for the pre-chorus, then I'm out for the chorus.
MD: What kit did you
use?
Stan:
On most of the record I used the green Gretsch kit that I used on the
last tour. On the track
"Whatever We Are," I looped and over-dubbed
with my 1959 Gretsch jazz kit, which I keep in my home studio. For this
new
tour, I'm using a new Gretsch 120th Anniversary kit, with custom
sizes that I requested. I've always used Gretsch,
even before I had a
deal.
MD: This new record features quite a few loops.
Stan: It's in the true
manner of Sugar Ray; it's always been a montage of live drums, programmed drums, and loop drums.
MD: Did
you play all the loops and then cut them up?
Stan:
No, actually Joey Waronker, who producer David Khane has
worked with
before, did some of them. While we were in pre-production, David wanted
to get started on some of the loops and
drum sounds, so he brought Joey
in.
MD: How did you feel about this?
Stan: I thought it was cool,
because it gave me more time to concentrate on writing. And Joey's a great
drummer. In recording, it's all
about doing whatever it takes to make
the best possible record you can. It's our band, and we trust and
respect
David's decisions. If we didn't like it we would have said No
way.
MD: Which tracks did Joey play on or
loop?
Stan: "Chasin' You Around," "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"?.
MD: Who played on "In
Through The Doggie Door"?
Stan: That's me. We cut that live in one take, then Mark did his
vocals.
MD: What studio did you record at?
Stan:
We did the record at A&M studios. David has
this little studio
upstairs full of outboard gear, and he's got Logic software. When we
cut live drums, like on "Doggie
Door," we would go downstairs to the
bigger studio. We set up down there for a while and cut a bunch of
tracks, but some
never made the record.
MD: There's a nice-sounding snare on the track "She's Different." What snare was
used?
Stan: That's an Orange County snare, with Moon-Gel for dampening and the right tuning.
MD:
Are you playing on that one?
Stan: That's me.
MD: How's the tour
going?
Stan:
It' been going great. Matchbox Twenty is cool, and they have a lot of
fans, so it's given
us the opportunity to play in front of a whole new
audience at some larger venues.
MD: How did you physically
prepare for going back out on the road?
Stan:
I joined a gym right before we left, and we brought a treadmill
out
with us. We've been touring now for a little over ten years, so we know
what to do and what to not do. During
our live set we're doing
"Mean Machine" from our first record, and it's super-fast and pumping.
Then we go right into
The Ramones? "Blitzkrieg Bop," which is a
different length every night depending on Mark's crowd involvement.
I'm
doing 8th notes on the toms at like 160 bpm, so if I didn't build up my
stamina, I wouldn't make it.
[laughs]
MD: Are you coming up front again to play guitar on this tour?
Stan:
Yes. And having DJ
Homicide cover when I'm up front works really well.
This new record has by far the most interplay between Homicide
and
myself. I think we've done some innovative things on this record as far
as me playing on top of what he's
programmed, and some of the sounds we
came up with.
MD: It's almost like playing with another
drummer.
Stan: Definitely. We totally play off each other.
MD: Let's talk about the first single, "Mr.
Bartender (It's So Easy)."
Stan:
I was driving in my car on the way to Homicide's house to work on
some
new material, and I heard Sweet's "Love Is Like Oxygen" on the radio.
That guitar sound is so smoking. When I
got to his house I told him, "I
have to go get this Sweet CD. Let's sample that guitar and put a drum
loop under it." So
the idea was a '70s riff with a hip-hop drum beat
and an '80s chorus. So we sampled it and put the drum loop under
it,
and it sounded cool. But we didn't have anything else for it. Everybody
was coming up with different parts, but we put
it on the back burner.
Eventually we settled on the "It's so easy" part from [Midnight Star's]
"No Parking On The
Dance Floor." When David Khane heard it, he went
nuts over it, adding Tower Of Power horns and complicated string
parts.
At first we were like, we don't like this. But after weeks and
weeks of hearing it, it started growing on
everyone, and it became one
of our favorite tunes. On the album the drums are programmed, but we
changed the arrangement
around for the tour. We open with that song,
and it kicks ass. I play along with the loop, right on top of it. It's
so much
fun to play live.
MD: Let's talk about your songwriting process.
Stan:
The songs start with all of
us, then I usually have a good hand in
writing some of the hooks. More and more I've been stepping up, but
everyone fills
in where they're needed. Some of the songs are
conceived, written, and finished in a 6x6 room, starting
with
programmed drums either by Homicide, David, or myself. Then I may pick
up a guitar, and we'll continue writing that
way. I'll get this cool
riff going, and I'll be like, Somebody get a beat going so I don't lose
the riff! [laughs]
Sometimes we try to force the issue and put live
drums, but it would lose the vibe. don't get me wrong, I
love
playing the drums. But I look at my position in the band now, and I'm
so stoked that everyone is so cool with
me filling in the shoes of a
second guitar player, and that I'm growing as a songwriter. This band
has been together for
fifteen years now, and everyone's happy in their
individual roles. We've been very fortunate.
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