In late October, the Bruce Lee Band released their latest EP, called Rental!! Eviction!! We spoke with singer Mike Park last week and discussed how it was written and recorded. We also talked about some of the song’s lyrics and their recent shows in San Francisco and Hawaii. On this recording, the band’s lineup consists Jeff Rosenstock on bass, Dan Potthast on keyboards and guitar, and Kevin Higuchi on drums, (Park is responsible for vocals and saxophone). Rental!! Eviction!! marks the band’s fifth release and it’s likely their most cohesive and catchiest to date. With lyrics that address a range of topics and the inclusion of various genres, this is an EP that’s sure to appeal to a wide audience.
Bill – When did you start writing songs for this EP? Have they been around for a while or was it more of a last-minute thing?
Mike – Definitely last-minute. That’s been my go-to recently, (laughs). With the Bruce Lee Band, try to play every two years and we’ve done that for the last six years or so. So, we’ve played about four times in six years and it’ll probably be another two years till we play again. I think it’s been about four years since we last released new music. We try to have it coincide with when we play, but two years ago we didn’t put out anything, so I thought we should do something. We just kind of went in. We went into the studio before rehearsing and we recorded as we learned the songs. So, we would learn a song in the studio and then it’d be like, “Okay, let’s record.” We did everything in about two and a half days. We wrote and recorded in two and a half days and then we mixed it after the fact.
Bill – That seems really fast. Have you ever done that with any other musical projects in terms of learning the songs in the studio like that?
Mike – I have, (laughs). I’ve also done it where I’ve written in in the studio. I did a project called Ahiro. It was a hardcore project that I did when I was living in Japan. It was me and three musicians from Japan who didn’t speak any English. We were able to use this practice studio during the graveyard shift for free, like from midnight till 7:00 AM. I showed them the songs and we just recorded it live into the soundboard. It was a pretty magical experience because it showed me that even though we didn’t speak the same language, music can go really far with getting the ideas across. It was a lot of fun. It was a long time ago, but I still think of it fondly.
Bill – So that sort of approach isn’t completely unfamiliar to you.
Mike – No and I’ve even done it with other projects, like at least a few songs. I don’t know if that’s a good thing, but at this point I don’t really care. It’s just for fun. If I think it’s complete garbage, I’m not going to put it out.
Bill – With everything happening in that small of a timeframe, did it ever get stressful in the studio?
Mike – It did for Jeff because he had to go back to New York. We were going down to last second trying to finish. He’s a pretty insane musician. He was playing everything. He did keyboards, Dan did a lot of guitars, but Jeff did some guitar too. Jeff did all the bass, he played tenor sax and baritone sax. It was pretty insane. And that’s without any rehearsal. He was jumping from instrument to instrument, going down the line. There was so little time left before he needed to go to the airport, but he just kept going. He did have to do some overdubs in New York actually.
Bill – Wow. That’s crazy. In terms of the other musicians who were involved in the recording, was there anyone whose contributions surprised you in terms of what they brought to the songs?
Mike – No, because Kevin played drums on the last Bruce Lee Band album and he’s done all our live shows for the past six years, so I’m used to playing with him. Dan, I just know him so well. He wrote one of the songs, “Tryin’ & Stutterin’,” so that was cool just to be able to sing his song. He sang a lot of vocals. There’s one song with a little call and response vocals between me and him. It’s just cool to hear his voice on my songs.
Bill – I didn’t hear it initially, but when I think about “Tryin’ & Stutterin’” now I do hear a little bit of an MU330 vibe.
Mike – Yeah, yeah. For sure.
Bill – That’s awesome. What do you like best in terms of how the recording turned out?
Mike – I just think it’s a real record. All the records you hear nowadays are so autotuned and cut and pasted together. Jeff produced the record and he just doesn’t do autotune. He won’t work with artists that have to do autotune. I mean, there’s stuff that I was pitchy on with my vocals and I’m like, “Man, I wish I could autotune this.” He’s like, “Nope” and I’m like, “Okay.” And it’s hard. The song “If I Could Only Listen to My Heart,” that’s the song where I’m pitchy. Like if I listen to it right now, I cringe.
Bill – Well I didn’t notice when I listened to it, for what it’s worth.
Mike – That’s good.
Bill – I was actually going to ask about that song because as its title kind of indicates, it’s one of the more personal songs on the record. Can you share a bit about what inspired its lyrics?
Mike – Yeah, let me think about it. I’ve been dealing with a lot of anxiety lately. I’ve always been anxious, but even more so recently. I’m not sure why. It’s over trivial stuff, like something as simple as wondering if I got some guy’s mail order out on time. I’ll be lying in bed and be like, “Wait. Did I ship that to the right zip code?” That song’s about just be wired and not being able to turn off the brain.
Bill – That definitely makes sense in terms of today’s society of just constant screen time and as hard as we try, we always seem to be staring at a laptop or a cell phone or an iPad or whatever. We’re just constantly bombarded with information.
Mike – Yeah, instant gratification. People want their problems to be solved right then. You text someone and they expect you to text them right back. Same with emails, etc. It sucks. I’m slowing down Asian Man this upcoming year. I’m totally taking a step back. It’ll be my first step back in 24 years.
Bill – Okay. Just unplug a little bit…
Mike – Yeah, I need to unplug and not worry about this business constantly. Or hire somebody, (laughs).
Bill – One of the two. That’s totally understandable. The song “Still Down for Tomorrow” is one of the catchiest on the record and also has a very chill vibe. How did that song come together?
Mike – I just wanted to have more of a traditional sound with that one. The drumbeat is a traditional one drop, which you’ll find on a lot of the old Jamaican records. A lot of drummers can’t do that, Kevin can and just the fact that he can, I wanted to write a song so we could display his drumming. You could be a shredder metal drummer, but there’s just no way they can play that beat. It’s such a feel beat. I wrote it around the idea of Kevin being able to play that style, so I wanted to write something in that style. That’s just what came out.
Bill – That’s great. Do you have a favorite song off the EP?
Mike – I don’t know. “Still Down for Tomorrow” is pretty good. We played five of the seven songs from the EP live recently. That was a fun one to play. For some reason I kept forgetting the lyrics to “Tryin’ & Stutterin’.” Out of four shows, I forgot the lyrics the first three times. By the fourth show I was like, “I don’t want to play this song.” It’s the little, subtle phrasing that Dan has and I just couldn’t get it. I like the first song, “When You Say It’s Okay.” That’s a cool one.
Bill – What were some of the highlights from the band’s recent shows in San Francisco?
Mike – I feel like San Francisco was pretty bulletproof because it was my 50th birthday. So even if we were horrible, people probably would’ve been fine with it, but I thought we played well. It was fun to see so many familiar faces. I’d just go down the line giving hugs to people. It’s fun to revisit ska every so often too. I also realized that it’s harder on me physically now. I used to go so hard for so many years live and it’s just my body hurts so much now. My knees are shot and I can’t do what I used to do. I feel like I was able to do it like two years ago. I felt like I was charging so hard live, but my knees hurt so much this time around. But it was fun. It was fun to see people and just see a lot of friends.
Bill – What was it like playing in Hawaii last month?
Mike – That was great too. We had 21 people who came with us, so we had a big crew. That was just fun hanging out. The punk scene in Hawaii is really small, but I just love it because they love doing it. There’s a lot of bands in Hawaii that share musicians, because it’s so small. There could be one guy that’s in four bands. And I’ve been playing shows in Hawaii for over 25 years, like the first time Skankin’ Pickle went. A lot of the old timers just don’t come out anymore, because that’s how life works, but it was cool seeing some familiar faces there too. But these were small shows. Skankin’ Pickle was pretty big, especially in Hawaii for some reason, so we played some massive shows back in the day. These were modest, small bar shows, like 50 to 100 people. It’s still fun. The bars were full and everyone was having a good time. The whole purpose of it was just to relax.
Bill – That sounds like a lot of fun. Usually at this point I ask bands about future plans or touring, but as you said in your response to the first question, you guys kind of stick to a formula of being active every two years. Is it still the plan to revisit this project two years from now?
Mike – That’s what I’m thinking. I keep saying maybe I’ll play somewhere besides San Francisco, but it’s so easy. I feel like if we played Chicago it’d go really well and there’d be a ton of people there, but it’s hard getting everyone to Chicago, like having all the musicians go out and having to rehearse. San Francisco is just so easy. One day, maybe I can branch out, but I don’t see anything changing with this formula.
Bill – Or maybe something where if Jeff and his band were already playing a festival and you could go and join them for a different set. I know that Dan and Kevin also play in Jeff’s band…
Mike – Yeah, the problem is we still have to rehearse. And having to get keyboards and horns, it’s so hard to mesh. I think with ska also, you have to be tight. I think with punk you can be a little sloppy, but with ska you have to be on. All the top ska bands, all the musicians are just stellar players. We’re just trying our best when we do play to make it sound good.
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