Louisiana-based rock band Better Than Ezra is getting back to its roots with its latest EP “Death Valley,” an LSU-inspired album released today. BTE bassist and background vocalist Tom Drummond spoke with The Daily Reveille about the EP, which puts a modern twist on classic tailgating tunes.
 
The Daily Reveille: How would you say you’ve translated these songs usually played by the Tiger Band into Better Than Ezra style?
Drummond: I guess mostly there’s more of a rock element, for sure. There’s more of a guitar format for most of them. “Chinese Bandits,” not so much. Basically we just updated the songs. We wanted it to be the Tiger Band versions, but we also listened to the original versions, and then we added one part to “Tiger By the Tail” that the Tiger Band doesn’t do.
TDR: Have you been working on any other material besides the “Death Valley” EP?
Drummond: We were planning on recording a new album in January, and so we are sorting through songs now. Recording will start at the very beginning of the year. And we should have a new album out by spring or summer of next year.
TDR: What’s the process like for that? Is it similar to your process for the “Death Valley” EP?
Drummond: It’s probably going to be the most similar to the “Death Valley” EP because of where everybody is living. But, at the same time, we haven’t really figured out how we’re going to go about it. … We used technology to host it. It’s kind of the first time we’ve ever done that. It’s a really interesting way of working because you have time and you can do it at your own pace.
TDR: Y’all have been around for a while now. Do you have any upcoming performances to promote the EP?
Drummond: Yeah, we’re playing the Varsity [on] Nov. 4, and I’m sure we’ll be debuting some of the songs. We had a rough copy of a few of the songs that we played as the intro at the [LSU versus Oregon game] in Dallas. We surprised everybody with these new songs. It was pretty cool, and everybody went pretty nuts.
TDR: So, y’all are going more for a national push with this EP?
Drummond: I think the EP really is about we went to LSU and we’re Tiger fans. We’ve always wanted to do these songs.
It’s not so much a national push. To be honest, we can probably only get away with this EP because of the nature of the tailgate community at LSU. It wouldn’t work somewhere else. The culture that exists here is different than anywhere else. When you’re tailgating before the game, that’s really what it’s all about.
TDR: Which one are you looking most forward to playing live?
Drummond: “Chinese Bandits.” There’s only a little piece of it that’s actually “Chinese Bandits.” We incorporated a lot of the student section chants that go on during the games. We’ve incorporated them into a kind of rap-chant thing. More with a hip-hop beat. It kind of builds on each other and gets bigger and bigger until the end. I hear a lot of the chants have been outlawed, and they’re in the song. 
TDR: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Drummond: The reason we did this was because we went to LSU, we loved going to the games, we loved being there.
The band started in Baton Rouge. We have a lot of memories there. I think people are going to be really excited when they hear this stuff.
 
____
Contact Kittu Pannu at [email protected]