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Written by Jason Green Friday, 30 December 2005 05:36

Actually, Steven is Jewish, one of the Barenaked Ladies guys, and they do some Hanukkah songs. I don’t think they’re going to rule out a Jewish band to warm them up, y’know; that wouldn’t look too good in the press kit.

 

Some people are apt to forget that the greeting “Happy Holidays” covers more holidays than just Christmas and New Years, but there’s one other groovy religious celebration worthy of excitement: the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah, the eight-day celebration which quite conveniently begins (this year, anyway) on Christmas night. While most all of music’s finest songsmiths have tried their hand at giving Jesus some kicking birthday tunes, the festival of lights has gotten the short end of the stick.

No longer. Adam Gardner of indie folk-poppers Guster and Dave Schneider of the hockey-themed novelty band the Zambonis have joined forces in the new side project the LeeVees, whose debut CD Hanukkah Rocks tries to fill the void. From the sunny Beach Boys–ian pop of “Latke Clan” and the They Might Be Giants goofery of “Applesauce vs. Sour Cream” (a debate on latke toppings) to the Ramones-ish stomp of “Gelt Melts” and the driving “How Do You Spell Channukkahh?” the topics may center on Jewish customs, but the catchy pop music offers something for everyone. Schneider and Gardner took a moment to update us on the method to their holiday-themed madness on the way to open select shows for the Barenaked Ladies. | Jason Green

I guess I’ll start with the most obvious question: Why did you guys decide to do Hanukkah songs?

Dave Schneider: [The Zambonis] were on tour with Guster, and we were just in the bus one evening, and Adam said to me, “We should write some songs together.” And I thought, “Oh, he’s being a nice guy, reaching out to the warm-up band. That’s cute.” Then Adam said, “We should write some songs about Hanukkah.” We went to the back of the bus, grabbed two acoustic guitars, and literally cranked out the first two songs on the record [“Latke Clan” and “Applesauce vs. Sour Cream”] within an hour. After we finished, we were like, “Let’s do this tomorrow!” The next day in Peoria, Illinois, we went to the locker room and wrote three more. One thing led to another, and here we are today driving to Baltimore for the first week of shows of the tour.

You guys had never spoken about collaborating before this; you just launched right into this record?

DS: No way. I was actually very friendly with Brian and Ryan from Guster, but I didn’t know Adam that well. It just sort of came out.

Adam Gardner: It was totally spontaneous, honestly. It wasn’t a preconceived idea, I didn’t eyeball him while he was playing on stage and say, “That’s the guy I want to write songs with.” [It was] just sort of a natural conversation that there needs to be good Hanukkah songs and we’re going to try to write them. It really was a spur-of-the-moment, spontaneous thought in my head. I just happened to blurt it out, and after it came out of my mouth, I realized “I’m serious; that’s a good idea!” There’s such a lack of good Hanukkah music out there, so this is our contribution to it, and hopefully people will think it’s good. We do; I enjoy it a lot.

You’re opening for the Barenaked Ladies. How is it that a Hanukkah band ends up opening for a band touring on their Christmas record?

DS: Actually, Steven is Jewish, one of the Barenaked Ladies guys, and they do some Hanukkah songs. I don’t think they’re going to rule out a Jewish band to warm them up, y’know; that wouldn’t look too good in the press kit. [Laughs] They’re friends with Adam; Guster has played with Barenaked Ladies a lot.

Are there any plans to keep the band going after the tour is up?

DS: Definitely. We’re doing this tour, and we’re just sort of deciding which direction to go with the LeeVees. I don’t know if we’re going to do songs only about Hanukkah again; I doubt that very much. We write songs pretty well together, and it happens faster than anything I’ve ever done, and I’m pretty sure Adam [thinks so], too. The record was written and recorded in a total of 22 days. We plan on doing something else; we’re just not sure what we’re going to do yet.

AG: Honestly, we’ve been working so hard just to get our shit together for this Barenaked Ladies tour that I don’t think we’ve even had time to think beyond it. We definitely enjoyed the writing chemistry between the two of us. I’ve definitely never had such strong chemistry, and had such good material flow so quickly. I’ve written songs this quickly before, but not good songs. [Laughs] I usually never trust people who are like, “Oh yeah, I wrote a song in ten minutes!” Yeah, well, it’s gonna be a crappy song. Usually they sound like they’ve been written in ten minutes. But these just, for whatever reason, clicked very quickly, and we actually have to sometimes stop ourselves from writing new songs while we’re still trying to learn how to play these live. [Laughs] I’m sure there will be more from us; we just don’t know what form it will take and what subject, because I’m sure it will be more conceptual stuff. I think that’s the key to writing songs quickly together is choosing a topic, other than the typical ones that rock music covers, like love and angst.

DS: The Zambonis are still going, and by all means, Adam is still doing Guster. It is a side project, but we definitely love it and take it seriously.

Musically, the album has a large variety of influences. Did you attack each song as a “Let’s do a song that sounds like a sunny, Beach Boys kind of thing…” or is that just how the songs flowed out?

DS: The thing is, I sort of have some experience being in what people would call a novelty band—which we’re not; we don’t want to be thought of as a novelty band. But when you’re sort of a concept band, by all means the worst thing you can do is take yourself too seriously. So, if you feel like writing a song that’s maybe a little inspired by the Kinks, do it. Who cares? The critics are probably going to try to crush us anyway…any concept record takes a hit. So if we want to write a song that sounds a bit like the Ramones or the Kinks or the Beach Boys or whatever—the Cars, why not? Life’s short. You gotta have fun with this; it’s a holiday record.

Every band wants to, deep down, have some fun and show their influences on their sleeves. I think some of the songs might be influenced, but it’s a pretty unique record in some ways. We used a lot of different instrumentation. We’re not going to run at it and just say, “Let’s do a Beach Boys song.”

Lyrically, why do so many of the songs revolve around food?

DS: Well, I have an eating obsession, that’s probably why. I eat a lot. Did you see the press photo? There’s two chins under there.

Honestly, we’re representing the cultural side of being Jewish. Tied for first is humor and food, and then family is a close second. It’s really about fun, humor, food, and family; for me—and I think for Adam too—[that] is a lot of what being Jewish is about. I grew up on comedy records and eating; that’s my youth.

Speaking of family, your mom makes an appearance on one song [“At the Timeshare”]. Was that hard to get her to agree to?

DS: No, not at all. My mom’s a ham. She’s a kosher ham, but she’s a ham. Originally, I was just doing a voice, but then, toward the end of the record, I was like, “I’d love to get my mother to actually do it.” So we brought her into my basement and we recorded her and got her talking like crazy and put her right in the song. It’s one of my favorite moments in the record, definitely. Her laughing cracks me up.

That was off the cuff, I assume?

DS: Oh, yeah. She was screwing up a lot, and it was just the perfect screw-up, that laugh. Some call it a laugh; I call it a cackle.

I’ve got one last question, and it’s a question you posed on the record but never actually answered: applesauce or sour cream?

DS: Well, I’m lactose intolerant, but I live alone and I’m selfish, so I’m going with the sour cream. I don’t know, though, and to be honest with you, I like to mix it a bit. But if I got it in front of me, I’m gonna use more sour cream than applesauce. There’s going to be some applesauce left on the plate

AG: Whew, that’s a tough one for me. I was really democratic about that song; I choose not to decide. I generally go back and forth, I alternate. But…I’m going to have to go with sour cream.

It’s official! The LeeVees support sour cream!

AG: Yeah, I think we prefer sour cream.