When Better Than Ezra has a bill at The Varsity, people go. Everyone knows the band is “officially” New Orleanian, but Baton Rouge can’t help thinking of it as local boys made good. As the band recovers from a lengthy West-coast tour, it’s found room on its calendar for another Varsity gig Friday night.
In the process of recording a new album, Better Than Ezra bassist Tom Drummond phoned from New Orleans to set the record straight on Raising Cane’s, California, State Street, and a second generation of fans.
Revelry: How was the trip out West with Cowboy Mouth?
Tom Drummond: It was good. Both bands do better when we’re together. If we can play together, we can play bigger venues. The overall show is better. And together, we have fun, especially knowing each other as well as we do.
R: Better Than Ezra is a product of Louisiana, but you moved to California before your big release, “Deluxe.” Where do you identify yourselves?
TD: Definitely in Louisiana. We were just there [Cal.] working day jobs and at night we’d go and work on the record basically. The majority of the business was in L.A. and New York, so at the time, that’s where we felt like we had to be. Now you can be wherever you want, and it’s cool. We like being here [New Orleans].
R: What’s the story behind your old song “State Street State of Mind”?
TD: We haven’t played that one in awhile. Kevin [Griffin] used to live on State Street. When we were going to LSU, he lived on State Street. We were hanging out around there. It’s kind of a good vibe there. I assume that it still is, at least it was when we were going to LSU. Baton Rouge has changed a lot. Even for us, Baton Rouge is quite different than it was.
R: In what way?
TD: There’s a lot of like, you know, chain restaurants up between Acadian and College. None of that was there before. The Varsity has changed. That whole area is all different. What’s the little chicken tenders place on the corner, Cane’s? Back then that wasn’t there. It’s like anything. It can never be like it was when you were going to college. People are always trying to go back and expect it to be the same and of course it’s not going to be. I think it [Baton Rouge] has changed for the better.
R: You guys live in New Orleans but you used to live here. Is coming to Baton Rouge like a homecoming for you?
TD: It is, of sorts. I think now, mostly, it is younger siblings of people who used to come see us when we were living there. We’re kind of getting a whole new generation of kids into the band, which is great. It’s all different because they didn’t necessarily grow up with us. They were told by other people, ‘You should listen to this band.’
R: Will you be playing any new songs at the show Friday?
TD: Definitely. We have three or four new songs that we’re going to play. One’s a rock song, one’s an ultimate-ballad type get-your-lighter-out type song, and one has a hip-hop vibe to it. Every one of them is nothing like the others. It’s going to be fun.