music: interview

> LITTLE DRUMMER BOY: PART III
Joe Travers is the touring drummer with Duran Duran, the vaultmeister for the Zappa family and a pretty darn nice guy. Did we mention he's from Erie?

A MUSICIAN'S VIEW OF THE INTERNET

EE: Do you have any opinions on MP3s and Napster?
JT: Sure... As far as Napster is concerned, I don’t really know too much about it. I know what my, I know what I’ve heard and what I’ve been told about it and what I’ve been told about it all I can say to you is that I’m the type of person -- I’m a music connoisseur; I’m a music consumer. I’m a person that likes to go out, buy a product, bring it home, open it up, look at the pictures, read the liner notes, listen to the disc with headphones. You know, that kind of thing. I’m not the kind of person that needs to go search somebody’s hard disk and download the latest Spice Girls single so I have it and play it on my MP3 player while I’m walking around LA, you know. So that’s that’s my whole deal with that.

I like what the artist and what the record company -- well not so much the record company -- but I like what the artist intends for the listener. I like the artwork, packaging, sequence of songs, how it’s mixed, how it’s mastered, dadadadada, I like that because I respect that. So I don’t really have a desire to download anything. I’d rather go buy it. It takes too long to download and you don’t get any of the special stuff that you get when you buy a release so that’s how I feel about Napster.

Also you know [another thing with] Napster is people don’t get paid for the stuff they have on there. I’m a drummer and I’m out there working. If I was writing a song, if I was responsible for writing a song that became a hit and people were downloading it for free off Napster instead of buying it or doing what I intended for that person, I’d be a little upset too you know. So, I don’t really give two shits about Napster to be honest with you.

And MP3 as a format, MP3... yeah, it’s got great sound quality and everything and it’s portable—you can download it off the Net and all that stuff but there isn’t anything you know out on MP3 that I wouldn’t be able to get on any other format. It just so happens that MP3 is really good quality so I admire MP3 for its quality but as far as, as far as it as another form of music to listen to, I don’t really need another form. I’ve already got cassettes, DATs, CDs, video tapes, you know. There’s a lot of other ones out there.

EE: Did you hear about Smashing Pumpkins releasing their last album online? Supposedly, the record label wouldn’t release it so they gave like 25 copies to people and told them to distribute it as quickly as possible.
JT: Well, that’s cool. I think that’s great. That’s about as smart as when Frank Zappa’s record company wouldn’t release his box set so he went on a radio station and played the whole thing and encouraged everyone to tape it off the radio, you know? I mean record companies, you’re a slave to the record company sometimes and if the record company doesn’t want to do what the artist wants to do then you have to take other measures to get your stuff out there. I mean that’s the whole reason for doing it you know. You write the stuff. You want to share it with the world and if you don’t have the opportunity to do it then you have to find it. You have to make ‘em, you know.

EE: I thought it was... it was pretty I guess gutsy of them to just go out and do that.
JT: Yes, well the Internet is just another valuable tool of selling your music. It really is. The Black Crowes and the Jimmy Page record you know that MusicMaker.com made available, that... you could go on and purchase that and you wouldn’t be able to buy that in the stores which you can now but before you couldn’t. For the first six months or something, you just got it off the Net. And, I thought that was great.

I mean the Internet is a great way for a record company to release something special. Another example of that, Rhino Records which is an extremely popular label which is known for releasing vintage recordings and stuff that not everybody is interested in buying, they have an Internet-only label called Rhino Handmade and they specifically make releases knowing that there’s only going to be 2000 made. Because there isn’t going to be -- there might not even be 2000 people that are interested in it but the fact of the matter is that they’re doing it, they’re making it available. And they’re making it available by a means of not getting in the way of anybody else which is not taking up shelf space at Tower Records for an artist that is going to be released on a major label. This thing is Internet-only catering to the audience that wants it and they have a means of getting it now and that’s why the Internet is so cool and if you can keep the price low and not go crazy and take advantage of the people that want this stuff then it’s just... it’s a completely positive thing.

And it also gives people that aren’t signed to record labels that can’t get signed because record labels think that they can’t sell their music like a local artist, you know it gives them an opportunity to get their music out to an audience as well. If you’re a local artist and you want to sell some records, you want to sell your own thing and no one else wants to take it on then the Internet’s a great way to get it out there. Instead of just going around and handing out fliers at every club gig you go to and say[ing] "hey, buy my record."

EE: Well, even [former Duran Duran bassist] John Taylor’s selling direct on his website.
JT: Well, there you go. Everybody that knows John Taylor and likes John Taylor has a way of getting it now. Instead of you know just wishing that it was in their store, you know? AND THEN the Internet is also popular for little towns too -- you know if you live in some little town in the middle of Arkansas somewhere and you want you know a Frank Zappa record, they’re not going to have that in there, in your, you know, local Sam Goody store [or] your local Coconuts store. You know, they’re only going to have the latest Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera stuff so you get on the Internet, you can order any DVD, any VHS, any CD that’s available that your little town won’t carry because they’re too stupid to carry it. You know you have the opportunity to get it and that’s why the Internet rocks.

JOE'S FAVE SITES

EE: Do you have any favorite websites?
JT: Well I like to go to official websites by the artists that I like. Which is like Jimi Hendrix and... oh god you know other than music you know I-I use the Internet to purchase stuff too because you can find a lot of good deals. So, if you’re looking for good deals, the best place to do, the best places to go are places that have low shipping costs because that’s where they get ya. I mean you can go to Amazon and CDconnection and all those places but they’ll get ya on the shipping.

There’s a place called TotalE.com which is a subsidiary of Columbia House and not only do they have really good prices on their stuff but they also have dollar shipping no matter how many items you choose whether it be one CD or 10 CDs, it’ll only be a dollar to ship and that’s good. And if you can scour around, I mean they sell DVDs, they sell CDs, I mean it’s... you know, they’ve got what you want in their selection. You can benefit by not only getting a cheaper price on the Net than you would if you were to go out and buy it at Tower or something like that but also it’ll get shipped to your place in a couple days for only a buck, you know. It’s not, it’s not that bad of a deal. So TotalE rocks and there’s also another place called Ken Cranes which which deals with -- I get DVDs from there. They have -- not a dollar but you know not real expensive shipping. And their DVDs are a hell of a lot cheaper than if you were to go and buy it in a store. I like those two places.

www.JoeTravers.com

EE: Are you personally involved with your website?
JT: YES! In fact, we’re going to be doing an overhaul of the site soon. I just updated it, well I sent the updates to my friend Rich Pike, the person that basically puts all the stuff together for me. I’m the guy that has the ideas along with with Rich and I know what I want up there as far as content and then Rich comes up with some cool graphics. He puts all the pictures and the text together for me and then we just do it.

We’re getting ready to put it in the new layout like for instance in the discography section. Right now the way that it’s set up is if you click on all the records that I’ve played on, it’s in a scrolling format so you-you download it and then you just scroll down the page. What we’re gonna do now is we’re gonna make it so that all the covers of the records are on one page and if you click on the record, you can go to a page that’s devoted to you know the contents of it -- you know like what I have to say about it maybe some song lists or you know the album artwork and stuff like that and then also an opportunity to buy it so if you click on the album cover you can go to Audiophile Imports and you can buy it or you can go to Amazon.com and you can buy it you know. So, I’m going to make that available soon -- and new pictures.

I have this little section on the website called Top 5 which is like my favorite Top 5 CDs that I’ve been listening to lately and I use that as an opportunity to get music out to people that might not know about it you know so... For instance the new Pat Metheny record you know no one would know really if that was a happening album or not but you know if you go to the Top 5 section you’ll know that Bill Stewart’s one of my new favorite drummers and that that album rocks and you should buy it! [Laughs] So, I just have fun with it really. I really do.

And also I look at it as an online resume. That’s the number one reason why I have the website because one of the bummer things about being in the business I’m in is that you always have to update a resume in order to get jobs and I’m sick of doing that so instead of like just putting together a text-based piece of paper to give or send to a an agent somewhere I’ll just say, "Look, go to JoeTravers.com, laugh at the picture that has me at 5 years old with my first drumset and move on to the stuff you need to know." You know? That’s what I use the website for.

EE: So it’s a marketing tool for you.
JT: Kind of yeah, even though I don’t really sell much. I don’t sell anything from it really.

EE: Well, you’re selling your work...
JT: Maybe I should put together a Joe Travers t-shirt and sell that! No, I don’t want to seem self-indulgent on that stuff. I’m not interested in-in Joe Travers t-shirts. I’m just, I mean you know I wasn’t even interested in a Joe Travers fan club but if people want that and if they want to do it then all the power to them. I’m flattered. I think it’s -- I think it’s great, you know. It’s already starting up now. I think I’m gonna join so I can chat with the people. Join my own fan club! [Laughs]

EE: Some people that I talked to seemed surprised that you responded to their email directly.
JT: Well, I get an average of 30 emails a day and eventually I do get around to it unless it’s somebody that’s just saying you know something stupid. But yeah, if it’s an intelligent email and if it’s somebody that generally -- because I know what it’s like to be a fan you know? If I emailed Frank Zappa when I was 12 years old and said I absolutely love this record and this record and you know saw you play with the concert and-and if he wrote back to me I would be losing my mind! So, I don’t consider myself a Frank Zappa but you know I think it’s cool that if somebody goes into writing an email to me not expecting anything back and then they get something back, that might be a bonus you know? So I look at it that way.