Gin Blossoms’ Enduring Experience

Gin Blossoms’ blockbuster 1992 album New Miserable Experience spawned four Top 40 hit singles, and established the Arizona quintet as one of the top rock groups of that decade. Nearly 35 years later, the timeless appeal of Gin Blossoms’ music has endured. The band is currently on tour with Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors.

Ahead of the tour, I scored a few moments with guitarist and songwriter Jesse Valenzuela. And to round out this feature, I’m including additional insight from his Gin Blossoms band mates Robin Wilson (lead vocals) and Scotty Johnson (lead guitar). The quotes from Wilson and Johnson are drawn from previously unpublished interviews conducted around the time of the band’s most recent studio release, Mixed Reality.

Tell me about the first big break that the band had.

Jesse Valenzuela: We were a band around town in Tempe for a long time, and then the local arts journal sent us to the South by Southwest festival. That’s what started it. And then we met a gentleman named Tom DeSavia from ASCAP [American Society of Composers and Performers]. He started championing us and got us to some labels.

In the very early days, the band covered Elton John’s “Rocket Man.” And on the 2010 Rarities album Gin Blossoms covered Big Star’s “Back of a Car.” I have a bootleg recording of the band from 1990 – Chuy’s Night Club in Tempe – and on the tape Gin Blossoms play Eagles’ “Already Gone,” the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” and even Thin Lizzy’s “Cowboy Song,” a tune I’ve never heard anyone else cover. Were covers a big part of how the band honed its skills?

Scotty Johnson: Yeah! Even before I joined, Gin Blossoms also used to do the theme from The Jeffersons, “Movin’ On Up,” and The Rutles’ “Number One.” Back in those days, you used to have to play all night. On Wednesday nights they played the little club Long Wong’s. Since they’d have to play all night, they’d do covers, and they called themselves by a different name. At one point they were called the Del Montes – like the canned vegetables. And they all had pseudonyms. So if you went on a Wednesday night and you stayed all night, you would hear them play 20 covers. And then on the weekends they were Gin Blossoms and just played their own originals. It was pretty rowdy! These days we generally only do one cover, because we just don’t have enough time.

Part of the reason that the band survived and flourished after founding member Doug Hopkins was out was that even as far back as your debut album Dusted, the songwriting was pretty evenly divided between you and him. What did you think of Doug’s songs?

Jesse: Even early on, Doug was a great songwriter; he had a marvelous skill level, much more than any of the rest of us. He had been putting original bands together for a long time, even in high school. He was a pretty actualized guy. He was really smart, too, and he really cared about his work. He wasn’t vamping; he was putting songs together.

When Doug was gone, did the band’s future look shaky?

Robin Wilson: It’s still terrifying when you lose any member of your band, and especially someone as talented and such a strong personality as Doug Hopkins. And we were definitely worried. When we finished New Miserable Experience, we really had no idea if anyone was ever going to hear it. There were months after the recording sessions where we just really had no idea whether or not it would ever come out, or if we would get dropped.

We were fighting to save the band. First, we decided we would try to do it as a four-piece with me playing rhythm guitar. And after a few rehearsals like that, we decided we’d be happier adding another guitar player. And that’s when we found Scotty Johnson.

Scotty: Our A&R guys had complete faith in Robin’s and Jesse’s songwriting abilities. We always had the support of the label. You’d hear so many bands talk how they hated thir label: “The label experience was the worst.” It wasn’t like that at A&M. They were so supportive. We didn’t want to go on the road, but they just kept pushing us. They kept saying, “No, this is working” and “You guys, this can happen.”

How did the belated success of New Miserable Experience change the band’s mindset and approach to doing things?

Jesse: I don’t know that it did. We still have the same sort of wrestling match with new ideas, the difficulties, the challenges. I just think it’s part of our nature.

Looking back at New Miserable Experience, there were six singles, which is pretty amazing. Did the runaway success of that set unreasonable expectations for the band?

Robin Wilson: The first thing we did after New Miserable Experience was “Til I Hear it from You,” which was co-written with Marshall Crenshaw. That was in ‘95, and it was a smash hit. Then we had to finish writing songs for Congratulations I’m Sorry. That’s the moment when you’re under the most pressure ever, because the label is literally sitting there waiting for you to write a hit. Not just an album track, not just a decent song. They asked for a hit.

So we wrote “Follow You Down.” That went on to be a top 10 single, and we performed it on Saturday Night Live. By any metric, we had a golden record with a couple of hit singles, a top 10 single, and a Grammy nomination. Congratulations I’m Sorry was a big success.

Jesse: I don’t know how anybody could look a gift horse in the mouth. If success is a problem, it’s a good problem to have!

Gin Blossoms have had a really rock-solid lineup since the days of New Miserable Experience. What holds you guys together after all these years?

Jesse: I always joke that it’s one word: Spite. But no, we’ve been together for so long; we’ve known each other through all kinds of things. There’s always talk about retirement. We’re not young anymore; we’re well into our 60s. But my notebook is filled with gratitudes, because it just gets better. The shows are terrific. There’s enjoyment of music, singing, playing, travel. It’s a nice time of life.