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<\/p>\nGin Blossoms\u2019 blockbuster 1992 album New Miserable Experience<\/i> 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\u2019 music has endured. The band is currently on tour with Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the tour, I scored a few moments with guitarist and songwriter Jesse Valenzuela. And to round out this feature, I\u2019m 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 The quotes from Wilson and Johnson are drawn from previously unpublished interviews conducted around the time of the band\u2019s most recent studio release, Mixed Reality<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tell me about the first big break that the band had.<\/b>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
Jesse Valenzuela:<\/b> 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
In the very early days, the band covered Elton John\u2019s \u201cRocket Man.\u201d And on the 2010 <\/b>Rarities<\/b><\/i> album Gin Blossoms covered Big Star\u2019s \u201cBack of a Car.\u201d I have a bootleg recording of the band from 1990 \u2013 Chuy\u2019s Night Club in Tempe \u2013 and on the tape Gin Blossoms play Eagles\u2019 \u201cAlready Gone,\u201d the Beatles\u2019 \u201cA Hard Day\u2019s Night\u201d and even Thin Lizzy’s \u201cCowboy Song,\u201d a tune I\u2019ve never heard anyone else cover. Were covers a big part of how the band honed its skills?<\/b><\/p>\n
Scotty Johnson:<\/b> Yeah! Even before I joined, Gin Blossoms also used to do the theme from The Jeffersons<\/i>, \u201cMovin\u2019 On Up,\u201d and The Rutles\u2019 \u201cNumber One.\u201d Back in those days, you used to have to play all night. On Wednesday nights they played the little club Long Wong\u2019s. Since they\u2019d 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 \u2013 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\u2019t have enough time.<\/p>\n
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 <\/b>Dusted<\/b><\/i>, the songwriting was pretty evenly divided between you and him. What did you think of Doug\u2019s songs?<\/b><\/p>\n
Jesse:<\/b> 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\u2019t vamping; he was putting songs together.<\/p>\n
When Doug was gone, did the band\u2019s future look shaky?<\/b><\/p>\n
Robin Wilson:<\/b> It\u2019s 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,<\/i> 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019d be happier adding another guitar player. And that\u2019s when we found Scotty Johnson.<\/p>\n
Scotty<\/b>: Our A&R guys had complete faith in Robin\u2019s and Jesse\u2019s songwriting abilities. We always had the support of the label. You\u2019d hear so many bands talk how they hated thir label: \u201cThe label experience was the worst.\u201d 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, \u201cNo, this is working\u201d and \u201cYou guys, this can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
How did the belated success of <\/b>New Miserable Experience<\/b><\/i> change the band\u2019s mindset and approach to doing things? <\/b><\/p>\n
Jesse:<\/b> I don\u2019t know that it did. We still have the same sort of wrestling match with new ideas, the difficulties, the challenges. I just think it\u2019s part of our nature.<\/p>\n
Looking back at <\/b>New Miserable Experience<\/b><\/i>, there were six singles, which is pretty amazing. Did the runaway success of that set unreasonable expectations for the band?<\/b><\/p>\n
Robin Wilson:<\/b> The first thing we did after New Miserable Experience<\/i> was \u201cTil I Hear it from You,\u201d which was co-written with Marshall Crenshaw. That was in \u201895, and it was a smash hit. Then we had to finish writing songs for Congratulations I\u2019m Sorry<\/i>. That\u2019s the moment when you\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n
So we wrote \u201cFollow You Down.\u201d That went on to be a top 10 single, and we performed it on Saturday Night Live.<\/i> By any metric, we had a golden record with a couple of hit singles, a top 10 single, and a Grammy nomination. Congratulations I\u2019m Sorry<\/i> was a big success.<\/p>\n
Jesse:<\/b> I don\u2019t know how anybody could look a gift horse in the mouth. If success is a problem, it\u2019s a good problem to have!<\/p>\n
Gin Blossoms have had a really rock-solid lineup since the days of <\/b>New Miserable Experience<\/b><\/i>. What holds you guys together after all these years? <\/b><\/p>\n
Jesse:<\/b> I always joke that it\u2019s one word: Spite. But no, we\u2019ve been together for so long; we\u2019ve known each other through all kinds of things. There\u2019s always talk about retirement. We\u2019re not young anymore; we\u2019re well into our 60s. But my notebook is filled with gratitudes, because it just gets better. The shows are terrific. There\u2019s enjoyment of music, singing, playing, travel. It\u2019s a nice time of life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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