The Servant of Music – Brian Bell Speaks With Buddy Robert Schwartzman
By: Christina Pietrowski
Dire Straits, the Pinkerton album and an intervention – what more could a girl like me ask for in an accidental impromptu interview with Brian Bell, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for Weezer and vocalist, guitarist for The Relationship, and Robert Schwartzman, lead guitarist and vocalist for Rooney? To top it off, they were together, under the same roof! Schwartzman, yes, he is the brother of actor Jason Schwartzman and yes, he is a cousin of the Coppola’s, (but don’t ask him questions about them, he doesn’t like to answer them so much) is known to hold live happenings on the website Ustream.tv. From Joe Jonas from The Jonas Brothers to Bell, he has brought over several musician friends to his home in L.A. (where he has his own recording studio and label, California Dreamin’ in conjunction with ILG) for some good, clean fun, allowing his fans on Twitter to go along for the ride and even submit questions to be answered.
I happened to be on his Ustream.tv channel last night (Wednesday, May 26th) and left my computer to go and make a late night dinner. My mother yelled, “Christina, your computer is talking!” to which I replied, “What?!” (she's not very technologically advanced) and came to see what the commotion was. I was logged in to Schwartzman’s Ustream channel and was watching Bell and Schwartzman live. ((How do I know him, you may be wondering? Schwartzman started following my Twitter account over this past summer and so I started following his, not really knowing who he was but recognizing the last name. After a successful Google search, I knew who he was. I was never a huge fan of his music, but I admire the fact that he takes the time out to answer his fans' questions on a regular basis and works very hard for his band. Not many musicians like that out there anymore. Every now and then he and I have Tweeted to each other. And so, as I was saying...)) Schwartzman said, “I’m here with Brian Bell…” and I thought to myself, “Why does that name sound so familiar?” As I finally remembered who he was, Schwartzman confirmed my thought and said, “He’s in Weezer and has his own side projects going on”.
Schwartzman’s band, Rooney, has been in the music circuit for a few years now. The power pop group from California has appeared live on the now-defunct popular teen soap The O.C. along with topping the Billboard’s New Artist charts for many months. Rooney’s upcoming album, Eureka will be released June 8th and they will be headlining a two-month North American tour starting mid June.
Similarly, Weezer, Bell’s band, has been around for quite some time (I was about 13 when their first and most popular album, The Blue Album, came out) and are also from California. Weezer’s hit singles, “Buddy Holly” and “The Sweater Song” from The Blue Album put them on the forefront of stardom in the mid '90s. Not to mention their video for, “Buddy Holly” being directed by famous film director Spike Jonze. Bell is now working on a side project called The Relationship and has just finished mastering their first record. He’s going to do an internet initial release (recommended by Schwartzman).
The Relationship, a four-piece band, has played a total of four shows so far. “The main concern is getting the record out, do some shows for it. I love how it sounds. Once I had all the elements in place, picking the songs weren’t as hard as picking the sequencing. I wrote segways to make it flow better,” said Bell of the debut album.
“It doesn’t take much time. It’s a matter of artwork, now. That could take a while,” he said. He initially wanted a photo as the artwork – “depicting the band in sort of a backstage situation. Like a Rolling Stones behind-the-scenes kind of shot. But it could also look kind of contrived if it’s not actually that. So, I’m open to some suggestions,” he said.
They’ve both know each other for quite some time because they toured together. They rekindled their friendship when they saw each other walking down Beverly Drive in California, “I was walking this way and he was walking that way, and we said ‘Hey man, what’s up?’”, Bell said.
Below are the questions that I asked both gentlemen. All of my questions (and comments) to both he and Schwartzman were answered and I loved it when they both agreed that, “Christinapie (my Twitter username) – You know your music stuff”. If you’d like to see the entire Ustream episode (it is in two parts), here is the link:http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7238879
What’s new with Weezer? Tell us more about your new project.....
Robert: You’re going on tour next week.
Brian: Yeah, we’re going to play in Kansas City. All festivals this summer. We’re going to do one in Milwaukee called Summerfest. And play at Bonaroo in Tennessee, which is my home state. It’s in June, two weeks from now. I’m not exactly sure where in Tennessee it is. We’re going to play the Reading Festival. The first time we played it [the Reading Festival, in 1996] we had mud thrown at us. They’re barbaric over there [in the United Kingdom]. We probably weren’t that good, for one. Gibby Hanes [the lead singer of the Butthole Surfers] (who played right before us) said to the crowd ‘Whatever you do, don’t throw mud at Weezer!’ It was awful. As far as Weezer touring, please check www.weezer.combecause I can’t remember the tour dates!
What are you listening to lately?....
Robert: “Money for Nothing”
Brian: Dire Straits.
Robert: We just listened to Dire Straits, “Money for Nothing”.
What inspires you?
Brian: What inspires me…? I think people inspire me. I think people around me; being around creative people is inspiring and positive energy. And I’m really fortunate to live in Los Angeles. There’s so many creative and good people here that it motivates me to be my best.
Robert: I’m inspired by music. Creating things that were once not there and then all of a sudden are. I think songs – it’s almost like inventing. I always wanted to be an inventor and I invented some weird contraptions. I invented this thing in my bedroom where I tied a rope from my bed to the closet pole and I have this shirt on a hanger rigged that when I woke up in the morning I’d pull the string and it’d just slide down my bed. Maybe I was too lazy to go to the closet. I’m inspired by making music and doing what makes me feel good and for people to respond and say that you’re enjoying it. And when you say you don’t I get bummed out and sad.
Brian: I understand. There’s so much music out there. I have to please myself first and foremost. I’m not sure fans of Weezer’s music are going to love my music. I’m sure some might and some don’t. Some fans don’t and do like Weezer’s music.
Robert: Does it piss you off?
Brian: A little but then again it doesn’t. I have my own set of criteria. If I create something from nothing that’s a success to me and if it’s out of line who cares if someone doesn’t like my music. I try to make universal music that is uplifting. I don’t make music that is vague and cryptic. I’m not into that.
Does Rivers really hate the Pinkerton album? Do you?....
Brian: I love the Pinkerton album. It’s one of my favorites that we did. I don’t think he… I don’t ever want to say what Rivers does or doesn’t like or what he thinks ‘cause I’m not sure. I can’t answer that.
Robert: But, do you like it?
Brian: I love it, yeah. I really think it holds up. I like the sound of it. I think the songs -
Robert: Where was it made?
Brian: We started to do it at the same place where we did The Blue Album which was NYC. We ended up recording the drums at Sound City in California. Rivers was going to Harvard during this time. And we’d do the vocals in a studio in Massachusetts. It was our first self-produced record. I thought it was pretty cool at the time after a successful first album to …. “Let’s make a bad-ass rock record…” It was a concept. It was set to be a musical.
What other instrument would you like to learn to play?....
Brian: There’s so many. Violin or cello. I love the sound of cello. To be able to manipulate the bow and make it sound beautiful which takes lots of years of practice. I can imagine like a beautiful sound of the cello. And actually the harp.
Robert: I’d like to learn how to play the drums really well. I’m an okay drummer. Four/four - no problem. But I can’t groove it really well. I wish I could kill it on the drums.
Brian: I like learn the drums too, but the sound of the high-hat against my ear is just too abrasive.
Any crazy tour stories?....
Brian: Nope. Everything is like so squeaky clean fun! [Laughs]
Robert: I have a crazy tour story. We were in Colorado. We were going to go through the Rockies. And we had this bus driver that wasn’t too smart. We were at a truck stop and we all woke up and we were stuck there because our brakes were frozen and because he poured hot water and tried to free the brakes and only made it worse and we were at the struck stop all night long and we were trapped and snowed in. It was a crazy time.
Which one is the smelliest, messiest, etc. on the tour bus?....
Brian: The smelly one definitely used to be Scott. We had to have an intervention with him to get him to use deodorant. That was a while ago. The messy one is our drummer. Absolutely. And I’m not the cleanest person in the world.
For more information:
The Relationship has a MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/therelationship
Rooney's website is: http://www.rooney-band.com
