Tree

Downsizing the American Dream (CherryDisc)
An interview with Dave “River” Conley (vocals), Scott “Jake” Jacobsen (bass), Billy “Fever” Hinkley (drums), and Brian “Ooze” Hinkley (guitar)
by Scott Hefflon

While Tree are heroes of the hardcore/punk scene in Boston and the Northeast, how’d you hook up with Roy Z in LA?
Dave: We met up with Rey from Downset. and he took the tape out to L.A. to Roy Z, his producer. He dug it. He wanted to work with us. When we were out there, touring to support the Frank Kozik 7″ with Roadsaw, we called the guys from Downset. They were mastering their new album in A&M Studios. We went down there and hung out. That’s a sick fucking place. We talked with Roy and he laid out what we’d have to do to make it happen. Meanwhile, he has a friend here in the East, Al Peters, and the two of them are getting together this thing called Bomb Productions. I met Al on the Internet while I was over at Lamar Lowder’s, the guy who produced Plant a Tree or Die. Al called me his cyberbuddy, but I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.

Jake: We were trying to find someone around here to record our stuff ’cause we thought that’d be cool, but Tim O’Heir gets too much money now.

Dave: It wasn’t in the stars, man. We were consulting the stars, and they said, “Go West.”

Jake: Cherrydisc hooked us up with the money to fly out there, and we were set up for a month to record.

Did you take all your gear with you?
Jake: No. We rented amps and drums, but we brought our guitars and shit. We ended up using all different gear ’cause our gear is really hating it.

Brian: They set us up with a rehearsal space, and then we went into the studio to record the basic tracks.

Dave: It was White Zombie’s rehearsal space.

Jake: We were in American Studios with the same sound engineers that did all Steppenwolf stuff. So basically, we sound like Steppenwolf.

Jake: Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night.

Billy: They had Defender there, so we played a lot of that.

Brian: We mixed it at another place, Silver Cloud.

Dave: We did the vocals there with Joe Floyd, a total madman. Roy Z is there right now with Joe Floyd and Roadsaw, doing their new album.

Jake: It was good for us to go out there to record. We had about ten days to practice and finalize the songs, and there really wasn’t much else to do. We got to spend the whole day, every day, on the songs. We’d wake up, go practice, then go have a few beers.

Dave: I got pulled over for not having my seatbelt on. I got the third degree from a cop who was, like, 18-years-old. He called this older guy over, and he asked me what I was on. I said I was taking antihistamines ’cause all the pollution was clogging my nasal passages. He asked where I was from, and I said, “I’m from Boston, man.” And he said, “Alright, get out of here.” I’m, like, psyche! We had a brush with the law, man!

Jake: Toward the end, we started to get a little too comfortable out there. We’d rented a Ford Festieva, the younger brother of the Lincoln Continental… (Suddenly, Dave’s hairstylist, Shelley, the punkest hairdresser in Allston, “the rudest girl who can cut the meanest do,” stopped by our table to give us all Sugar Daddies.) …and we were following The Afghan Whigs. We’d played an outdoor show at Cal State – big stage, big field, nice sound system and everything – and there was a grand total of, like, seven people at the show. But we’re used to that.

Dave: But there were four pine trees, a couple bushes, and big, huge field of grass.

Billy: The trees gave us a standing ovation.

Brian: So anyway, we’re driving down the road, and the car dies. I look down at the gas gauge, and it’s down below E.

Jake: And this is in a car that gets a 100 miles per gallon.

Brian: So this crazy Mexican guy pulls up behind us and pushes us to the next exit. Luckily, there was a gas station right at the bottom of the exit. Fortunately, we had money. So we filled up and got to the gig with the Afghan Whigs.

It was in the stars.
Dave: It was all in the stars. Then we hung out with the guys from MTV’s Road Rules. We all got really, really, really drunk ’cause they had this mad tab from, I forget…

Billy: They don’t like us. Dave took a piss on their lawn, and their landlord was standing there screaming at us.

Take a Pee with Tree – that should be your next album.
Jake: The Boston Pee Party?

Dave: MTV sucks now anyways. The revolution will not be televised.

Jake: I like the lesbian Singled Out. You ever watched Spanish MTV? They play GWAR, Brutal Truth…

Dave: Turning to MTV as a source of new music is one of the most disgusting concepts in the world.

Where did you get the title Downsizing the American Dream?
Dave: We were driving back from a show in Maine, and there was a debate between Weld and Kerry on the radio. They’re blah-blah-blahing, and we’re just checking it out. We listen to a lot of radio on the road. Mostly ’cause our tapedeck is completely broken. It’s got, like, six pens and pencils jammed in it.

Billy: Suddenly, someone mentions “Downsizing the American Dream.” I’m like, damn! Album title! Some people sit around all the time thinking of what to call their band or their songs or whatever, we just hear something we like.

The release has great red, white, and blue packaging…
Dave: We’re workin’ the campaign for all it’s worth. They’re going to be bustin’ out all that red, white, and blue patriot shit, so we’ll be standing up for what we believe in. Vote for us; we’ll be totally cool this time, I swear. All those other times we were running and we were fuckin’ up, we were learning. We were learning! We learn from our mistakes. If you vote for us this time, we promise we’ll be a lot cooler.

So a vote for Tree is a vote for… what?
Jake: Buy our record and check it out.

Dave: A vote for Tree is a vote for green grass, blue skies, and clean air.

Didn’t one of you have an art show?
Dave: I’m an artisté. I’m a trash collector who makes art. I pick through people’s dumpsters and find all this really great stuff. They call it trash, and I say GOLD! There’s gold in them there dumpsters! I find cool pieces of wood or metal, oven doors, and I make art. I put it on the wall. Instead of having an opening, we had an art closing. We snuck two kegs of Bud into this little Harvard library study place in hockey bags. We played with 6L6, Space Humpin $19.99, and Supermodel. We ripped it up at Harvard. (Then Howie of the Sour Vagrants stops by. Drinks are clinked, and I can’t tell what the hell was said next.)

Jake: We’ve got to give a lot of credit to all the bands that have hooked us up and helped us out over the last five years – without them, we’d still be jamming in my basement.

Dave: Props goes out to Cloe, Bob Daley, Steve Malone, Tim Catz, Gage, Shaun at Cringe Production. He picked me while I was thumbing; the day Nelson Mendele came to Boston. It’s Sunday morning and I’m totally fucked up, been up all night, and he brought me to an all-ages hardcore show at Green Street. I said I was in a band and asked if he could hook me up with a show. He told me to get him a demo, and I’m like, “What’s that?” He goes, “That’s where you make a tape of your band playing, and then you give it to me.” So I gave him a tape and he never called me back. He was working at Bunratty’s, so I went down there with a huge boom-box and a shitty tape we made in the basement. I cranked it for him and JR, from Sam Black Church, and we got our first show. (Everyone starts slurring “shout-outs” and I can’t decipher a damn thing. Ya know who you are, and Tree thanks you.)

What about people you’ve helped out?
Billy: To promote ourselves and our friends, we’re having our record release party at Axis on September 27th. We’re not sure who’s going to play, but it’ll be all our good buddies.

Jake: Mung’s going to be there.

Dave: Clutch, Sepultura…

Billy: Pearl Jam and Led Zeppelin are going to be opening.

What made you decide to record “This Land”? (As in, “This land is your land/This land is my land…”)
Dave: That songs has a guest star appearance by Keith Morris of the Circle Jerks on backing vocals.

Billy: It’s the last song on the CD, but it’s not a hidden bonus track. It’s a very beautiful song, man.

Dave: Woody Guthrie’s the man, man! School children across the country learn the words to that song!

Billy: You know what it really is? It’s a tribute to all of our, and everyone else’s, what, like, grammar school teachers.

Dave: It’s like how they wouldn’t let the people into California from the Oklahoma dust bowl. All these people migrated to California, and state cops are like, “You can’t come in here.” And Woody Guthrie is out there going, “Wait a minute! ‘This land is your land/This land is my land/From California…'”

What’s “Running With The Devil” about? I was hoping for a Van Halen cover, seeing as how you’re a classic rock band now.
Jake: That was a concept song. The way that sound builds, it’s like you’re being chased by the devil. It’s like, you’re running, you look behind you, and the devil’s coming. He’s coming after you. You keep running, you look again, and he’s right on your ass. The whole song has that feel. It’s could be “A Brisk Walk With The Devil.” The song just has that feel. It’s chase scene rock.

Billy: That’s kind of a weird song for us – it’s got a different sound.

Jake: Dave sang on that one.

Dave: I learned what flat and sharp are.

Billy: Dave’s usually sharp, he’s always high. (Laughs around the table.)

I was at the Safe & Sound Benefit when you sang Letters To Cleo’s “Here and Now” and Kay Hanley got on stage…
Dave: She was shitfaced!

Billy: We’ve done it to her, so it’s a fair trade.

Dave: It was after the MassCann Pot Rally. They were playing that song, and Jake said, “She’s calling for you!” She was actually complaining that I kicked a hole in the stage.

Jake: I just heard her say “Dave from Tree,” so of course I thought she wanted Dave to go up and sing with her.

Dave: I was harmonizing so well, but they turned my mic off. I was devastated. The photo in the Boston Globe had me on stage with them, so I am the fifth member of Letters To Cleo. They don’t take me on tour anymore… But I’ve got the tattoo to prove it.

Any particular song that’s your favorite? Anything that really defines Tree as it now stands, so to speak?
Billy: I like the whole thing. I can’t say lyrically, ’cause they all mean different things to me. And I didn’t write any of them. Probably “Running With The Devil.”

Dave: A lot of sweat, and a lot of time went into this one. We did pre-production, we did re-writes, we had more time than we’ve ever had. I had six days to do the vocals; I usually only have two days. When they finally fixed the AC, I sang all the songs perfectly. It was, like, the last day when they fixed it. I’d been sweating my ass off. After that, I was like, “Hey, I feel a lot better – Whooooah!”

Jake: This is probably the most complete Tree album we’ve ever done. We had a producer who was really good about grabbing moments when we really shone, and then putting them together.

Brian: I like “Stands Alone” and “Burn.” We only have a few really fast songs on this disc, so “Burn” is really good. It’s got an early Suicidal Tendencies-kinda thing to it.

(I think a drink got spilled on the recorder. What a waste. Of a drink, I mean.)