JPG: Another thing about songwriting. With the Who on the Pete Townshend demos it’s totally constructed as a Who song minus the elements of John Entwistle’s bass playing or Keith Moon’s style of drumming. It’s fully developed. Do you present your songs to the band in that way or do you bring in scraps such as when you worked with Steve Berlin on the song “Sanctuary” and develop it from there?”
CJ: It’s varied from throughout the years. In the past it was more of ‘Here’s the song and here’s what I’m hearing from you and here’s what I’m hearing from you…’ As a younger songwriter, not as developed with the process of bringing it to them. Maybe it’s just the trust factor might not have been there as much. Now, that we’ve built chemistry throughout the years and I trust everybody, it’s more of a collaborative thing now.
This particular project was much more me just having to trust the evolution of it. When I met Steve he said, ‘Please send me everything you have, even if it’s just a guitar riff, even if it’s just a melody, even if it’s just a couple chord changes.’ He just wanted to hear everything. And something like “Sanctuary,” it was just one chord with a couple verses written over it. “Big Wheel” was just a melody without words and one section of it where he said, ‘I love that. Keep going.’ (laughs) It was really cool how this project happened to be much more of that, like figuring it out as we go along as a group than in the past. And I think that’s something I’m definitely gonna try to take because there are certain songs when I write them that I feel like, ‘Okay, this is a song for me by myself.’ There are other certain songs where I feel like, ‘I’d like to hear what kind of stamp the Bridge could put on to this one.’ It’s definitely that the band brings its own personality to the tunes.
JPG: Between where you are as songwriter and where the Bridge’s other songwriter, Kenny Liner, is, how do you find common ground? Do you ever get into that songwriter competition where it matters how many songs are used on an album?
CJ: Kenny and I have always had a real easy relationship like that where there was never any competitive thing going on between us. And it was always like we were helping each other out, too. He would bring me out his songs and I would openly tell him my critique and suggestions to use some and not use some, and the same went from him to me. In the past when it was time to record it was like, ‘What are the best songs that we’re going to do here?’ However, this time around, having Steve, both of us sent him lots of things and he picked the ones for the album. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we need eight Cris songs and…’ He just picked the ones he picked. The way that he pieced them together on this album, the order and everything, makes it a lot more cohesive than in the past where clearly there’s a separation of one of my tunes versus one of Kenny’s tunes. Not a bad thing, we each have our own style, but on this record it meshes a lot more seamlessly instead of seeming like two separate songwriters.
JPG: Do you think that non-competitiveness is there because you and Kenny were friends prior to playing music together? When did you become friends? Grade school? High school?
CJ: We were friends since we were 11 years old. We went to the same summer camp and played rec basketball and stuff. Went to the same high school for a couple years. Then, he got kicked out (laughs) but he can tell you about that.
JPG: Do you feel that lengthy relationship is why it’s not as difficult?
CJ: Yes, definitely, and I think the way the whole band started was very casual and organic. We were just friends hanging out. We were friends before we even started playing music, and we hadn’t seen each other in years and, all of sudden, we bumped into each other, and discovered that we both played. So, we got together and started playing just for the hell of it, not even, ‘Let’s form a band.’ At the heart of it all, we’re good buddies and super-honest with each other. We trust each other and that’s really important. There’s never been a competitive vibe to the two of us. It’s a brotherly thing, for sure. Not that we don’t have our brotherly spats, of course, but we love each other.
JPG: As far as music you’re passionate about, there’s Doc Watson, Leadbelly, Delta Blues… I hear even more bluesy elements on National Bohemian. Is that a matter of you bringing it out more or Steve’s influence?
CJ: Steve chose the songs for the record. So, that would be his influence on there because there were a couple of others that may not have been geared towards that side of things. I’d say it’s just a lot of how I write. It’s a big influence on how I write and feels natural to me.
JPG: In the press release it mentioned that you worked for a financial business.
CJ: (slight laugh) When I graduated college I didn’t really have anything to do, no money to pay my bills. I ended up getting a job doing mundane stuff (slight laugh) in the corporate world for a year. I knew the whole time it was not for me.
JPG: What kind of stuff were you doing?
CJ: It was like 401K planning, mutual funds. I basically, spent most of the day sitting at my desk doodling lyrics and dreaming of the day where I could afford to get outta there. That was when Kenny and I started playing together, while I was working there. It was one of those things where I was laying in bed one night and I had to get up for work the next day and it just hit me, ‘You know what, I’m walking in tomorrow and I’m quitting. I’m not going to think twice. I’m not gonna tell anybody before I do it. I’m just gonna do it. And I’ll accept the consequences later.’ That’s all it was. I really had no plan. I started trying to pick up bar gigs, guitar lesson gigs, waited on tables while the band picked up. I can’t say that my retirement fund is looking any better because of it but, hey, my soul is happier. (laughs)
JPG: A 401K planner, I would think you’d be one of the few musicians who would be prepped for your later years.
CJ: Well sure, if I had any money to invest into it I would certainly know where to put it, but I’ve got to pay my rent so there’s not much leftover. It was just one of those things where I wouldn’t have been satisfied in life. Certain things are just more important than a paycheck.
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