Pat: Well, that's not an entirely accurate statement because we're still together. The solo deal led to a brand new record deal with the Smithereens with a label that I'm signed to. They're called Velvel Records, and they're based out of New York. So, as soon as this tour is done – we end in Chicago at the House of Blues on February 22nd – we're going to go back in the studio and do another Smithereens record. But, in terms of how I felt doing a solo record, it was a tremendously freeing experience. And it was something that was necessary at the time. I needed to step out of the context of the Smithereens for a little bit. After having played with the guys – they're actually my comrades in arms and brothers for eighteen years – it was time for a change.
Q: You're basically doing this on your own. Is this a totally different band, are there any guys from the Smithereens playing with you?
Pat: No, I thought that with the album and with the tour, I had to work with a completely new set of musicians, different players. In fact, to preserve the continuity between the album and the tour, I'm using I'm using the guys that are on the record. The guys I'm playing with are a group of musicians whose work I had admired, and whose work had influenced me throughout my career. On bass is a guy named J.J. Burnell who plays in a band called the Stranglers, a very influential punk sort of art rock band from England that actually had as many top ten hits as the Beatles in the UK, and they're still together. So, J.J.'s on bass on the album and the tour, and on drums is a guy named Tony "Thunder" Smith. I first saw Tony back in the seventies playing with Jann Hammer and Jeff Beck. He played with Santana, and now he plays with Lou Reed, he's been Lou Reed's drummer for the last couple years. So, that's what we're doing for this tour.
Q: You said it was like a freeing experience for you. Is it something you feel like is necessary to do for your work, or something?
Pat: In a sense, what you're saying could be true. It was freeing in the sense that a lot of the baggage that normally has warped the Smithereens recording sessions didn't exist on this and it was sort of a fresh start in a sense. The whole project itself was both exhilarating and scary at the same time. Again, playing with a collection of musicians who had been some of my musical heroes for a long time… It was freeing in the sense that I didn't know where I was going. I wrote the songs, I did them acoustically, I recorded the demos at the Gin Blossoms' studio, a place which is called Mayberry, which is in Tempe, Arizona. I didn't know what it was going to sound like, or how we were going to approach it, but we wound up doing the album in about five days.
Q: That's pretty short, really.
Pat: Yeah. Well, the overdubs took another five days, with the mixing, as well. But, the basic tracks themselves were recorded at a studio in Charlotte, North Carolina, a place called Reflection, where R.E.M. had done two albums, and where Don Dixon, my producer, had worked a lot. It was a great project, it was a good experience.
Q: Basically, you're taking this album on the road.
Pat: Yeah. We're into about the thirteenth show – there's twenty-nine all together. We started out in the Midwest, in Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Toronto, working our way down the east coast. Now we're in the southwest, we did Dallas last night, we're here in Austin, we're playing Amarillo tomorrow, then off to Tempe. It's interesting, I hadn't done a tour in three years and I was really wanting to go back on the road, and I missed it. I really did miss it.
But we haven't done a Smithereens record in the past three years because we lost our third record deal, the one with RCA. At that point in time people simply weren't interested in signing us. But, the folks at Velvel, a good bunch of people, had a strong belief that we're still capable of doing good work. I think that upon hearing my solo record they realized that I still had the ability to write and make good records, so they signed the Smithereens.
Q: As far as that goes, you say that it's not broken up, it's put on hiatus.
Pat: We weren't on an intentional hiatus, we never believed in that. Back in the early days of the band we would hear about friends of ours, contemporaries of ours and other local bands that would say things like "We're taking the summer off." And we couldn't fathom that. If you're in a band, you're in a band full time. And you constantly have to keep working toward your goal or your dream, whatever that is, record deal, or not. Again, it was a forced hiatus, more than anything. We always cherished and loved each new opportunity to make records. It's what we always wanted to do, was to be a band to make records.
Q: What are some of your personal highlights? Any real moment where you just thought that "this is so awesome. I'm having the greatest time, and I'm so happy that everything has worked out the way that I've always wanted it to." Was there ever a point where you felt like that?
Pat: Well, I remember feeling that that something was up around the time we did "Saturday Night Live" because that's still the hallmark of any musician or performer's career – is to achieve that level of success that you can do that show. And that thing is still in syndication. I think someone at a gig the other night told me they saw it last week on the Comedy channel, or something. So, we knew that something was happening at that point, and that was a real challenge.
I think one of my personal highlights was having the opportunity to jam with Paul McCartney in New York. The notion of this kid growing up in a small town, loving the music of the Beatles and being inspired to write by their work and the work of Buddy Holly and other great rock and roll musicians and songwriters… to get up on stage and play with him was a tremendous thrill. I can say that I did something that very few people could ever say they did, much less meet him. I played with him on stage, it's pretty neat.
And I pretty much met all my heroes, and the band and the music that I've written and that the band has performed and recorded, I think has provided a lot of joy and entertainment and happiness for people. It hasn't hurt anybody, and I think it might have helped a little bit.
Q: That sounds great. I've got some of your old records, like "Blood And Roses," I think that was probably back when I was in high school…
Pat: Yeah, it's funny because that generation of kids that grew up with us, I think, we did influence a whole generation of bands that were in junior high school when our first albums came out – people who went on to great success like Nirvana, the Gin Blossoms, and the Lemonheads, and god know who else, and that's a nice thing. But you know, I tend not to live in those days, I'm always living in the future , I'm thinking about the next song I'm going to write , the next line of a lyric that I'm going to put down on paper. I've got gold records, but they're not up on my wall, they're in a closet somewhere because I don't think about past successes, I'm always looking forward. It's kind of neat to do this for a living, to still be able to do this after eighteen years, it's an honor.
Q: That sounds really special.
Pat: I think so. I always thought that what the Smithereens had was not for everybody, which I guess makes it kind of special. Certainly there's a lot of heartfelt warmth and love coming from a lot of the people I meet. Just the notion that what I did in my lifetime had some sort of meaning or impact on people and for people means a lot. I did this in-store today in Austin at Borders and it was tremendous. The outpouring of affection and the knowledge of the work I had done was fantastic. That's something I can live with for the rest of my life. I know that everything that I've done and everything that I do and will continue to d is at least honorable in its intent of trying to do music that's real, and keep alive that classic, almost traditional three-chord pop song. That's what I do. No matter what else changes around me in the musical environment or the arena of professional pop music, that's what I do. I can't change that.
Q: What other kind of goals … You said that you had set all those goals like playing with your heroes, and that kind of thing. And I know, like right now, you're talking about the next lyric, but is there a personal thing, besides writing that song? Is there anything else?
Pat: Writing great songs is certainly high on my list, but it's not the only thing I care about. I care mostly about being a good parent, being a good dad to my daughter Liza, I care about being a good friend to the people that I know, and a good citizen, and to hopefully develop the spiritual side of me a little bit more. I'm not concerned with material things. I got rid of mostly everything I own because material possessions do not bring happiness, I know that. I've made a lot of money, I've spent a lot of money, and I'm trying to work on myself, the person within me. Not to sound Zen, or corny, or hippie, or anything, but that's the most important thing. I think I've achieved everything that a man could want to achieve in his lifetime, I believe, I think, creatively and career-wise. And if people say "Do you want to do anything else creatively? Do you want to become involved in movies, or write a book or anything like that?" – and the answer is no. This is what I do. It's what I do best. We've been blessed as a band; the Smithereens, and myself as a writer and a singer, in that we've had a unique voice, and continue to have a unique voice. We don't sound like anybody else, and that's a good thing, that's the most important thing.
Q: Tell me a little bit about your relationship with those guys. I know you guys are just like brothers, after all these years.
Pat: Well, we're still brothers, and we have our problems like any family does. It's kind of funny. My ex-wife used to say to me "What's it like being married to four people?" Meaning, her and the three other guys in the band. And it's true that in the sense that we were all married together, and it's survived, it's stood the test of time. It's hard to describe. You know, we have our problems, but we'll work them out. They're a great bunch of guys. I mean, how many… in life, you can hardly ever find the time to get four people to agree on any one subject. And the Smithereens, four guys from Jersey agreed on everything – virtually everything musically for the better part of eighteen years, and continue to work. So, I'm blessed in that regard, and I can't complain.
Q: That sounds great. I know you've got a show to do.
Pat: Yeah, I'm going to do my show, now. We're going to rock Austin!