Ezra returns to Death Valley
Death Valley, the new collection of songs from Better Than Ezra, pays homage to LSU football and the songs Tigers fans traditionally identify with game day.
A platinum-selling rock band formed at LSU in 1988, Better Than Ezra features singer-guitarist Kevin Griffin, a 1989 LSU English graduate, bassist Tom Drummond, a near-LSU graduate, and Los Angeles-based drummer Michael Jerome.
Released this week, Death Valley contains six songs with long histories as LSU favorites and two Better Than Ezra originals inspired by LSU football.
The Death Valley project was a longtime ambition for Griffin and his band mates.
“There were the old recordings by the LSU band,” Griffin said from his home in Nashville. “They’re classics but they aren’t good recordings. We also wanted to do fresh takes on ‘Hey Fighting Tigers’ and ‘Chinese Bandits’ and the classic LSU tailgating songs like ‘Hey Baby,’ ‘Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love’) and ‘Tiger By The Tail.’ ”
Griffin knew “Hey Baby,” a No. 1 hit for Bruce Channel in 1962 featuring Delbert McClinton’s harmonica, and “Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love),” a song composed by Baton Rouge’s Cyril Vetter and a hit for South Carolina’s Swingin’ Medallions in 1966, from his own student days.
“And then I started meeting older fans who were into ‘Tiger By The Tail’ (Buck Owens’ country classic) and stuff like that,” he said. “So we incorporated songs that different generations associated with their time at LSU.”
Of course, Griffin didn’t expect to include every song associated with LSU football on a single disc.
“We weren’t going to get them all with this first EP,” he said. “Maybe we’ll do volume two next year or in a couple of years, and bring in more current songs. We were going to do ‘Straight To Hell’ by Drivin’ n’ Cryin’, which was a big bar sing-along song when I was in school, but we didn’t have the time. So this is the classics.”
Making new arrangements of the old songs, Better Than Ezra applied its creativity, for instance, to “Chinese Bandits,” adding a new horn riff performed by New Orleans’ Big Sam’s Funky Nation and a koto, a plucked string instrument from Japan that originated in ancient China.
Better Than Ezra’s rendition of “Chinese Bandits” also features chants and taunts that students and fans shout during LSU games.
“We used ‘Chinese Bandits’ as the vehicle for all of these disparate elements that hadn’t been compiled before,” Griffin explained.
“The song is definitely an anachronism,” the singer added. “That’s why we diminished the original melody line. Maybe we’re being overly politically correct, but it’s one of the songs that is part of the LSU culture.”
Production for the Death Valley EP didn’t begin until late summer, when the band recorded rhythm tracks in Nashville. Griffin recorded his parts at his Nashville studio and in Los Angeles and then sent them electronically to Drummond who, working in the band’s New Orleans studio, added them to the rhythm tracks.
“The idea was really to do eight songs, get them out there as best we could, not with an eye to making money on it,” Griffin said. “We want other LSU fans to enjoy the music as much as we enjoyed making it.”
Despite the rush to finish, Griffin and his band mates put extended effort into the recordings, in both performances and arrangements.
The group also hired pedal steel guitarist Russ Paul, recently on tour with Elton John and Leon Russell, and Tim Palmer, who’s produced recordings by Ozzy Osbourne and David Bowie and mixed music for U2, Robert Plant, Pearl Jam and Faith Hill.
“Tim’s a friend who’s mixed a couple of our albums,” Griffin said. “He’s one of the top mixers, so, when you hear the songs, they sound big.”
Better Than Ezra performed a sold-out show at the House of Blues in Dallas the night before LSU’s Sept. 3 game against Oregon at Cowboys Stadium.
“You should have seen the crowd at the House of Blues,” Griffin said. “It was like LSU 1989. All our friends were there. It was a blast.”
The band’s next show in Baton Rouge is Nov. 4 at the Varsity Theatre, just outside of LSU’s north gate.
“We make a point of playing the Varsity every fall,” Griffin said.
Of course, the band will play songs from Death Valley.
“We had a ball making the record,” Griffin said. “Because they’re such great songs.”