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I'll be honest with you. When I first heard one of your albums, I was kind of like, "OK, I got it. There's a bit of an edge to it, but what's the big deal? Why is there so much of a buzz going around these guys?" Then I saw you live and though, "Holy shit! Now I get it!"
"That's appreciated."
Do you get a lot of that -- where people might assume more energy from your CD or even less energy at your live show?
"Totally. We've also gone back and forth with trying to chase down what it is live. We've gone in with a lot of approaches as far as standing just like we do on stage and recording like that and recording live to try and capture that. I'm at the point right now where the recording needs to be a different thing and we need to consciously improve upon that as we grow. As far as live, it needs to change and move to, but it's always going to be a different thing. You just do the best you can with both of 'em. As long as you do, I don't guess you can really complain. I guess I can totally understand that. There are bands looking back... You see what The Police are now, right? I don't know what they're like live, but if you look at old footage, whether you're a Police fan or Sting fan or not, I mean, they rock. When I was a kid I liked them, and I haven't gotten into them in a while, but I remember seeing clips where I went, 'This is a punk rock band. This band is just killing it.' That's a good example. The records were much more controlled."
Even when you play live, if you're just listening to it, there's still a calm overtone at moments, but watching you guys play, you get the physical part of it and see that energy coming through.
"Sure, sure."
It translates easier live where when you're listening to it, you're not seeing that energetic aspect of it.
"Yeah, I'd be lying if I said there aren't some of those aspects that I'll probably be forever trying to get down in audio form. For sure ..."
I was going to ask -- Why do you think there is that difference? Is it just the energy of being in front of a crowd and not being in a studio playing the same song 400 times?
"(laughs) I'm sure. I'm sure it has to do a lot with that. I think there's a big difference, just like I said. I think if you go in and sit down and start playing an instrument, it's just not the same thing. With Emotionalism, we did stand, just like I said, in the same order we do on stage and we delivered it live and it did help in that improvement. There's more things to do toward that. We're also ... I think you once again run into a thing where entertainer, artist, musician, songwriter -- these are all ... they can be the same thing and they can also be cut up. The entertainment section of it becomes this whole other animal and there's this urgency and anxiousness that I definitely have in the company of an audience. It's ... I wear many masks, many hats. That's a different person than me when I'm going to Lowe's to buy some timber. It's just a different person, it really is. It's very contained and you can become something very different and let it take you to that place."
Well, you guys are also known for your live show. Does that put pressure on you, too, since people are expecting a high-energy show?
"It does, and sometimes we may consciously go the other way because we know we're backed into a corner with that and we need to set it straight. Rooms dictate that, too. The rooms and the crowds -- sometimes we just allow it to dictate it and go with what is called for. We love playing theaters and in a theater you can control which way it's gonna go. You can go to both ends of the spectrum. It is something that has a limit on it as far as consecutive days that you play and you have to dig and find that inspiration. We've not had a hard time finding that. This has been a huge year and a lot, a lot of work that we've done, but we've managed to find it and sometimes when you didn't think you would."
