Blistering.com: Given that everyone in The Company Band already has an established fanbase within their other gigs—whether it be Fu Manchu, CKY, Fireball Ministry or what-have-you—did you find you already had this sort of built-in audience?
Fallon: I think we definitely enjoy this kind of instant recognition, because if any one of those bands’ websites mentions this band, you don’t have to have any sort of introduction. Inevitably, people refer to it as this sort of “super-group,” which I sort of have to laugh at. I mean, we’re no Chickenfoot. We do it because it’s fun. I think that’s fair, and I think if any one of those fans had thought this was us trying to do anything other than have fun, playing some rock ‘n roll, I think we would have got called out on it pretty quickly.
Blistering.com: What was the impetus behind doing the full length? Have you all made a conscious effort to make time for The Company Band, or was there ever a point where you considered just calling it on the EP?
Fallon: I think as soon as the EP was done, we thought it was kind of an appetizer, and we knew that it would be even better to meet up and write stuff physically in the same room. A lot of it was done over the internet, but at the end of it, we all got together in L.A. Speaking for myself, it all came at a rather serendipitous time, because I was thinking for the lyrics for The Company Band when we were doing The Bakerton Group…which has no lyrics. So the idea of putting “A” box to “B” box was never an issue for me. There was never a deadline for The Company Band—it was more like, “let’s do it when we do it.” There were no plans to do a “world tour” or anything—because of the logistic nightmare that would be—but rather that making music is just FUN, and you really don’t need any justification for that.
Blistering.com: Is the possibility for touring in the cards, though, do you think?
Fallon: We’re discussing doing some shows after the New Year. We’re looking at schedules, because you have other families as well as other bands in the picture; plus, half the band is on opposite coasts. So you kind of have to wait for the stars to align for that to happen…but we’re trying. I think we’re all in agreement that writing music is great, but live music is better.
Blistering.com: Lyrically, do you feel the need to separate them for each band, and do you know instinctively where a phrase is going to go?
Fallon: I think when I’m looking at a project like a record, I see something over the horizon, and hopefully the music evokes a mood which you can crystallize into words. I keep a notebook, but I don’t keep two of ‘em, you know? Sometimes if I hear a riff or certain melody, a phrase will pop into my head which I may have written in the note book years ago, or last week…or maybe it is nonsense, and I have to make sense of it, and elaborate. I try not to make it too academic, and I think with The Company Band EP, there were references to corporate and military industrial complexes. I was thinking we could maybe do the whole record like that. I realized pretty soon that it would be pretty redundant after track six. You do get a little bit of that on the record, and then there are some more tongue-in-cheek things. I think the riffs tend be a bit melodic, whereas with Clutch you have a lot of percussion.
Blistering.com: The overall theme, to me, seemed to be a bit more light-hearted than Clutch.
Fallon: Yeah, for whatever reason, there’s definitely a tongue-in-cheek attitude to it which is missing from Strange Cousins From The West, but I don’t think that’s necessarily indicative of either band. The record is just a snapshot of everyone’s musicianship or lyric writing at that particular time; for any band, I think.
Blistering.com: For a song like “All’s Well In Milton Keynes”, there’s a certain sense of foreboding which sets it apart from the rest of the record. Plus, it’s right in the middle, and has that moody atmosphere to it.
Fallon: Thank you. I think that’s an example of when I hear song with a particular mood, I want to be able to be in step with that, and kind of narrate that mood. Sometimes it’s a real bitch, and you end up with something different than you hoped for, but I think with that one, it turned out pretty well.
Blistering.com: Going back to your earlier point about “not being too academic”, do you think it takes a certain type of person to get down with your thought process with regards to lyrics? I’ve always loved how you mix up these “highbrow” references with normal, everyday speech.
Fallon: I suppose it does, but I don’t think it’s different than anything else. People react to art differently on an individual basis; it’s entirely subjective. I’m sure there are plenty of people who listen to it and can’t stand or don’t get it…and that’s fine. That means I’m doing my job. If everybody thought it was ok, than you’re McDonalds, and whatever’s the flavor of the week on the radio, because appealing to everybody is a real easy thing to do.
Blistering.com: It’s not everybody that will get Roky Erickson and Frederick Nietzsche references in a song!
Fallon: Even from the get-go, I think I do that for my own entertainment! Can I do this and chuckle at it as an inside joke? A lot of people will get it, and a lot of people won’t…but I think I heard it from the creators of Mystery Science Theater 3000: “the right people will.”
Blistering.com: What was the inspiration behind “Hot Topic Woman?”
Fallon: That was an idea which was lying in the back of my head for a couple years. My niece was visiting at that junior high school stage in life, and I went with her into this Hot Topic store, and it was just this rock ‘n roll…abortion. I know it’s probably because I’m approaching 40, and I’m cynical about everything, but I was having those stereotypes enforced of the “too cool for school…but you work at a mall” attitude. I felt this way in High School about this place, though, so maybe it was this repressed teenage angst rising to the surface because I was in a Hot Topic? I don’t know.
To sound a little more sophisticated about it: I remember having to go on specific trips to find records and t shirts that you can now find at any mall in America. What was once below the radar is now part of the common parlance of teenage culture. I guess I have a nostalgia for when it was more “obscure”, so I guess that has something to do with it, too.
Blistering.com: Yeah, I used to drive hours to these hole-in-the-wall indie record stores, but even those are fading away now.
Fallon: Yeah, and you probably had twenty bucks, and you decided you could either get two records, or one record, a copy of Flipside and a Maximum Rock ‘n Roll. Now, kids can download ten records, listen to the first song off each one, and make one of those their favorite band. Plus, you have to decide how they look. Things are always changing, and the older you get, the more disgruntled you are about the youth having so much time ahead of them. I do think it dilutes the well of quality a bit, though.
