20 Questions with Gunnar Nelson
I first met Nelson in the early 90’s when After The Rain was just released. They were at a radio convention in Minneapolis promoting their album and single. I had just checked into my room at the hotel when I heard singing coming from the next room. It was Nelson! I knocked on their door and introduced myself. They were very nice, and excited to be there. At that convention they played a killer acoustic set in front of a room full of radio program directors, and that helped get “Love and Affection” played on a lot of stations. I had the opportunity to talk to Matthew and Gunnar several times throughout the weekend. What truly amazed me was that about three months later they played a concert in Sioux City, Iowa. Before the show there was a meet and greet. I walked over to Gunnar, he looked up and said, “Hi Chad, how are you doing?” It totally blew me away. In the few months since I had met them, their first single had hit number 1 on the charts, they had been all over the country, and had met literally thousands of people. I couldn't believe he remembered my name. It showed me what kind of people Nelson were, and are. I’m happy to see they are still making music and doing a lot of work for charity, too. Here’s Part 1 of 20 Questions with Gunnar Nelson. You’ll also notice pictures of all of Nelson’s albums scattered throughout the interview.
Chad Bowar: Why did you decide to do a tribute album for your Dad at this point in time as opposed to 5 years ago or 5 years from now?
Gunnar Nelson: Well, we had always wanted to wait until enough time had gone by to where we had, in the first place, made our own mark in music and in the second place, we didn't ever want to disrespect the memory or the music of Rick Nelson. But what we found over the years was that so many people loved that music that he made, so many people grew up with our father and so many people began to request that we at least incorporate a few songs into our live set, that we figured “what the heck.” And we actually wound up doing one show was more of a tribute set just to see what would happen. The audience response was so amazing that we actually decided to take a live recording of that show and press it up into a record.
Do you plan on doing a tour in support of the new album?
The answer is a definite yes. The only question is when we would be doing that particular tour and where. I know talks have been had about touring this record in Europe because we always felt that the market for Rick Nelson music was stronger in Europe than anywhere else. But it looks like if we are going to be doing a tour in support of this record, we are going to have to wait until the spring of 2001.
Do you enjoy going on the road or is it just a grind?
Well, that's a great question too, it just really depends. I think a lot of it comes down to, one, what kind of gigs you are playing-are you playing large places with incredible audiences or are you playing small places which make it seem more like work? Its all just rock n’ roll in the end, a gig’s a gig and any gig is great to play. But I think the hardest thing about being on the road is not the gigs in the first place. It’s really the travel that comes in-between the gigs or the travel it takes to get to the gig in the first place. I really enjoy being on stage more than anything else in the world. What I don’t enjoy dealing with are the cab drivers, buses, the plane schedules, the delays, the rude desk clerks...you name it. It is what it is and at least we are not punching a time clock.
Any crazy tour stories?
Are you kidding? There are SO many crazy tour stories, I can’t really go into it but lets just say that during the first NELSON tour, imagine this...you had two guys with long blonde hair fronting the band, you had a band that was completely supercharged with testosterone behind you, you were going all over the country on a deluxe tour bus...none of you were married at the time...you had the number one record in the world and you had success that was driven by glossy MTV videos. There were chicks absolutely everywhere. What I can say for myself is that it got to the point where just hooking up with a girl here and there got to be boring, so I had to spice it up. And I was looking for “interesting situations” and they got pretty interesting. Maybe we go into that in detail at a later time but I think that's an interview unto itself.
After getting so in-depth into his music, has your opinion of your fathers’ musical abilities changed?
Well, I don’t think it’s really changed, well yeah it has changed because it’s gotten deeper. Our respect for our Dad as a musician and as a songsmith was always very, very strong, but I think, now more than ever, its really interesting to hear how complex the basic rock n’ roll that he began his career with is and how much of an art form it is to make a song sound simple as an end result when it has so many complexities going into the making of it. Even the early stuff like ‘Travelin’ Man and Hello Mary Lou’ has some incredible stuff in it. There actually isn't even a drum sound in the original recording of ‘Hello Mary Lou’, which we never even knew. It’s actually a tenor guitar and you can only find out that kind of stuff when you take a song apart.
What is your favorite Rick Nelson song?
Well, my personal favorite song of our Dad’s is one I don’t even play live and isn't on this record. It’s called ‘Palace Guard’ and its on his Rudy the 5th record. But I think if you were to ask me what my favorite song is on The Like Father Like Sons record, it would be his personal comment to the musical industry and that would be “Garden Party”.
You have a very impressive and well put together Internet presence. What has been the response to your official website and has it changed the way you interact with fans?
The website to me is a complete Godsend. I love the Internet. I try to stay up-to-date with technological developments as they come, but I don’t know if that's even possible. It seems to me that information and the rate that we have access to it is doubling at least every 6 months now. I try to maintain a balance with our own website with keeping things technologically advanced but also making it easy to navigate and keeping in mind always the outcome of having a website in the first place and that is to keep in contact with our fans... to keep them informed...to keep them enthusiastic and to keep them in the know of where to get our product, where to see us play and at the same time keep them excited about coming back and visiting us. So, I love the website. I love the experience that I have had so far with it and I know its only going to get bigger and better. But for me there is nothing like having someone coming to a show and saying “I would have never of known you were playing here had it not been for your website.” That's a gas! And I think It’s only going to get better.
Speaking of the fans, from looking at your site and other fan sites it seems you have an unusually dedicated, loyal and active fan base. Is that perception true, and if so, do you go out of your way to accommodate your fans?
We've always prided ourselves on having the greatest fans in the world. Our fans are our life’s blood and its what we live for. Case in point...there is actually a section on our website where I just go up and I allow people access to my innermost thoughts. I don’t edit myself or anything. I update these ‘inspirations’ if you will, at least every month, hopefully every two weeks. And that's just based on the response that I have gotten from fans over the years, who have told me that the whole reason why they are fans in the first place is because they want a closer connection with their favorite artists. I felt, well shoot, publishing my diary, which is basically what this stuff is, for them to read, gives them a very, very deep personal connection with me and an insight into who I am as a person. I think if you keep that kind of connection in mind, as an artist, you are always going to, hopefully, develop that kind of relationship with your fans. And fortunately for us, I mean, they feel like family and we feel like family to them. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Why did you decide to start Stone Canyon Records, and what are the positives and negatives of running our own label?
Stone Canyon Records is really a labor of love. It was actually necessary after our experience with Geffen Records, who released our first two records the After The Rain record and Because They Can. We had to do it. We are living proof that you can sell 3 million records and have nothing to show for it financially. It’s really a bummer man and it’s really amazing what kind of creative accounting a large record conglomerate can come up with. They work you like dogs, they don’t help you in all the ways that they assure you that they are going to help you. We realized all the success we had off the first record was primarily because of the incredible touring presence that we had on the road for a year and a half, the videos that we made, that we paid for and got on MTV and the publicity that we surrounded our trip with, which we actually arranged around a very close friend of ours, who has since moved to Ireland. Basically, those three components made the success of that first record. Our record company didn't even believe that we were a live band. We never got tour support from them. And I know it sounds like I am complaining but all it really served me to do was get to a point where, after Because They Can when the musical tides changed and alternative rock really became the big thing, it took us about two years to finally get ourselves out of the major label contract and get us to the point where we could start our own label. With our own label, Stone Canyon Records, we have all the freedom in the world that we could ever want. The only downside is, I suppose is that your access on the surface is a little more limited because you don’t a bazillion dollars in promotion behind you. But in today’s musical economy, you can always work out a relationship with a distribution company whose willing to do that same kind of job for you. And that's what we are in the process of doing right now and the good news is that the machine is already in place and we’ve just done a deal to get our records back in the stores, so I don’t think there are going to be any compromises only successes.
What's your take on Napster and those types of services?
Well, again, I don’t think any artist makes any money at all with a major label deal. I think you have to sell 15 million records before the records companies can't “hide” your royalties in their accounting. I think Napster is a great way to get your music out there to the fans. I've heard a couple of things that were said in front of the Senate Judiciary committee on Napster and I really agree. Musicians, if they are smart, realize they are like waiters who work for tips. They are in a service industry. If they do a good enough job, their fans will “tip them” on their way out. That means in the form of T-shirts or merchandise at concerts, concert tickets, all of those other things that the bands do have in their control. What they really don’t have in their control, when they are on a major label, is the control of their royalties during their income strain from record sales. Trust me, I have been there, I've done it. So any of these artists that are complaining that people have free access to their songs and aren't “paying” for it, instead of going to the record stores and buying CD’s, you know what? I haven't heard any one of these big record companies complaining about how their “artists” are being ripped off. They have all been saying how “they” have been being ripped off. That's not cool. I think Napster is a great way for bands to promote their music. I do see both sides of the coin. I think that the people who should really be concerned and the people who the public should be concerned about the songwriters who actually write the songs because that's the only way the songwriters get paid. Traditionally they have gotten paid from albums being sold. I think if a system can be set up where the songwriters of the songs get paid, where there's some kind of fund or something like that or a membership fee that goes into a fund and people get paid that way based on like ASCAP or BMI or any of the other songwriting societies...I think it would be an incredible win-win situation and I think that the major labels should be nervous because, you know what, they've gotten lazy. And things like the Internet, things like Napster, they really level the playing field and it can take it back to what it should have been about before MTV ruined the industry...which is music.
To read part 2 of 20 Questions with Gunnar Nelson, click here: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/3985...
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