Interview: Run Run Run

ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY PAULA GONZALEZ

Years ago, The Scenestar found itself at Spaceland, happily drinking and listening to live music. The next band set up, the fog machine was turned on, and Run Run Run took the stage. As the lights moved to the rhythm of their songs, we were blown away with the bass player’s big hairdo, the fog and the song “Skyscraper.”

For some reason, we didn’t bump into the band again for some time after that first encounter. Years later, the location is Churchill’s Pub in Miami, Fla. It was Churchill’s acoustic night, but that didn’t matter to Run Run Run. They sent the acoustic set to hell and decided to rock the place.

Since Run Run Run was performing last, the night wasn’t off to a good start, depending on who you asked. People were faking suicidal wrist cuts and moaning complaints, as we heard the whining of a man with his guitar who was wearing a Miami Dolphins jersey. And let’s not even go into the next act. Let’s just say we stepped outside for sanity’s sake.

Anyhow, we immediately noticed the van with the California plates and bumped into RRR lead singer Xander Smith and guitarist Doug Palmer. We wanted to chat before the show, catch up and ask, “Hey where’s the bass player with the big hair?”

The Scenestar: Last time I saw you, I’d say it was about five years ago.
Xander Smith: Oh, when we first started out.

SS: The Drizzle EP I believe.
XS: Wow that’s cool.

SS: “Skyscraper” was my song.
XS: Oh, we’re going to play that tonight.

SS: Who was the guy with the big hair?
XS: That was Jeremy. Jeremy had a spiritual awakening, changed his name twice to Rainbow. And now it’s Beardo, and he decided his musical soul was crying out for hip hop. So now he’s playing underground hip hop. [Jeremy-Rainbow-Beardo has been replaced by Nic Speck.]

SS: That’s quite a change. So let’s march forward. What have you been up to?
XS: It’s exciting that you were there right at the beginning of our first EP that got us going. Since then we have gotten busier, busier and busier … like any band. That was our first step. We got our name out there, got our early songs out there, and since then we have put out a full-length record, Endless Winter, which has some of those [Drizzle EP] songs and a bunch more. Then we put together this lineup, and we wanted to record, tour and put out new songs. We’ve been pretty consistent for a few years now. And we just recorded a new EP, Good Company, which is a precursor to another full-length album, which is also on its way.

SS: Is this the first heavy tour? Twelve weeks, and you’re touring states that honestly I would question, because as you can see Miami is a tough city to play in.
XS: There’s a motivation for both. We know that in our future when we become well known enough and we get the opportunities that some bands get, we know that we will be on tour playing the major cities. Whether it’s Radiohead or whatever well-known band, that’s sort of a disadvantage for them, and a lot of fans never get to see those bands. If you don’t live in Dallas or Chicago or New York, you’re never going to see those bands. If you live in Oklahoma City, forget about it, and if you live in Miami, you’re never going to get to see any band. So our mission is two-fold on this tour. One, financially it makes more sense to drive shorter distances and play more shows. And it also gives us the opportunity to play music for individuals like yourself. Some of our biggest fans are not in the big cities and rarely get to see us.

SS: Let’s talk about the dynamic of the band. After asking around, you’re the only one from L.A. and the rest of the band is from everywhere else. How does that work when it comes to styles?
XS: That seems to be the general nature of every band in Los Angeles—it’s a city full of transplants. I think it’s also a good thing; I think it’s great that it brings all these influences. Half of the band is from upstate New York and bring an East Coast vibe. We were talking about the Drizzle EP. It was very shoegazey, very psychedelic, and it wasn’t like a heavy … wasn’t like a hard rock thing. And then with the East Coast vibe, they bring a muscularity to the rhythm section and guitars and stuff. And now it’s a nice combination between both styles.

SS: Looking at how many bands come out of L.A., what separates you from the crowd?
XS: This is my opinion, personally I am committed to the thruline of modern rock music. We really try to write music that is innovative but also satisfies our desires to recreate and reinvent rock music. And we bring elements from all these styles of music, and I think it plays out in our style of music. A lot of bands can say, yeah, they are fans of this style and that style that are similarly dissimilar. But when it comes down to it, they just sound like AFI. When it comes down to it, they just sound like Kings of Leon. They sound like something corporate. We are really trying to make an effort to take bands that wouldn’t necessarily tour together and put it together musically on stage. It’s also a commitment to the live show. Our visuals and our lights are something that are pretty special and inventive, and there are not too many bands that do that.

SS: [To Doug Palmer] For you, coming from upstate New York and going to L.A., did you feel that you had to change your style?
Doug Palmer: There was a very big hardcore scene for a long time [in upstate New York]. Then it developed into more of a very punk and rockabilly scene as well a whole other area of jam bands. We’re close to Vermont … Phish and the Grateful Dead. I’ve found myself influenced by all kinds of music, nothing in particular. So when it came down to packing up and moving out, I had heard the [Run Run Run] songs before I ever left New York to come out to get in the group. I loved it immediately.

SS: What convinced you?
DP: It was different than everything else that I had heard. You hear a lot of indie bands or whatever and after a while a lot of bands get in a certain category. You can categorize all kinds of different music. And this was one of them when I heard the CD … Well, you can call it indie rock, or you can call it rock ‘n’ roll, or you can call it this, that or the other thing. And the songs were so good and well put together. It was kind of a no-brainer.

SS: So what are the plans after this tour is done? You’re promoting the Good Company EP and already recorded a music video.
XS: Yes, it’s still being edited.

SS: So that’s going to be out soon. Any plans of a full-length album?
XS: We’ve got a lot of plans for that. We’re very excited. We don’t even have time to do everything we want to do. On our own schedule, we already need to book our fall tour, and somehow we have to save money over the summer and record before we get back on the road. We have a lot of new material. A couple of songs we’re going to play tonight that aren’t recorded. We’ve got a lot to do.

The night ended much better than it started. Run Run Run took the stage and immediately bolted out a string of songs from the Good Company EP and their last album, Endless Winter, including “Skyscraper,” which sounded very good considering Churchill’s list of audio problems, which can drive anyone out of there. But the band’s set list made sense after the comments made about not being able to label them in one particular category. You can’t. There’s indie, there’s rock, there’s shoegaze. Their lyrics are more mature than the typical boy-girl heartbreaks.

For the L.A. folks, Run Run Run will be back in May. For all the other U.S. cities, check out RRR’s MySpace page for a complete list of tour dates. Even if you live in a small town, they just might be passing through soon.