Better Than Ezra Rediscovers Its Love of the Recording Studio

For some bands, having a monster hit song becomes an albatross around their necks that they just can’t shake.

That's not the case with Better Than Ezra. When “Good,” a song with nasally vocals that alternates between loud and quiet moments like so many of those '90s alt-rock hits (think Gin Blossoms or Toad the Wet Sprocket), became a smash in 1993, singer-guitarist Kevin Griffin embraced it.

“When ‘Good’ became a hit, it was super-affirming,” says Griffin via phone from Nashville. Better Than Ezra performs on Thursday, May 16, at House of Blues. “I knew that when we played it live, fans loved it. It was the first song that caught people’s ears. Sometimes, that never translates to radio and bigger success. When it did happen with ‘Good,’ we were super blown away and excited. It’s something as simple as a melody written on an acoustic guitar with a chorus that goes ‘wo-uh.’ That’s become the blueprint for everything I do. I know that a great idea followed through can be something really awesome. It’s a great testament to pursuing an idea.”

Since “Good,” Better Than Ezra has remained an active band and regularly toured and released new music. Acts such as Taylor Swift, Train, James Blunt, the Struts and the Record Company have performed Griffin’s songs. Griiffin also co-founded the annual Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival that launched in 2015.

But it’s been ten years since Better Than Ezra’s last studio album, something that Griffin says the group wants to rectify going forward.

“I don’t know why we waited so long to make a new album,” he says of the new album, Super Magick. “It’s crazy. When you’ve been around a long time, you become a touring act. Maybe you put out a single now and then. Some bands don’t even do that. The reason for putting out new music has changed. It used to be that we could have another double or triple platinum album. That would be nice, but for a band like us, we want to make new music for our fans and to enjoy it and so we can play new songs.”

Once the band came to terms with the fact that it needed to record a new album and not just another single, Griffin says they “got it done.”

“It’s been really fun,” he says of recording the album. “We’ve been putting singles out, but we’ll be putting out more new music now. They’re ones that have been kicking around. There’s some new songs and one song called ‘This Time’ was written in 2009. I loved it forever. I wrote it in 2009, and it was cut by an Italian opera trio called Il Volo. It’s a hit in Chile. People sing it with tears in their eyes. It wasn’t meant to be a histrionic song. It was meant to be more like we’ve done it.”

One song, the twangy “Contact High,” purposefully evokes the Rolling Stones with its woozy vocals and barroom piano riffs. .

“I wanted it to sound like Flying Burrito Brothers mixed with a song like the Stones’ ‘Faraway Eyes,’” says Griffin. “You can also hear we were influenced by this band called Babe Magnet. They’re an Australian stoner rock band.”

The group recorded the album at Pink Gear, Griffin’s studio in Franklin, TN. Emery Dobyns (Jewel, Sia) assisted with the production.

“[Dobyns and I] produced all the songs except one, ‘From the Ground Up,’” says Griffin. “He provided keyboard on some cool intros. You listen to the beginning of ‘Contact High,’ and he sets a great mood. The best producers are the ones who become a new member of the band,  and you really trust them. They bring in a point of view and become a sounding board that you normally don’t have.”

Griffin says “it’s insane” to think that Better Than Ezra has lasted 36 years now, but he's pleased the group has endured.

“We dreamed big,” he says. “I was very invested in school and a career, but I loved music. I had done music since third grade. Back then, bands around you like REM and the Pixies and Soul Asylum were having platinum albums. You could have a big career. We were dreaming big. I always wanted to have a career in music. It’s been great. It’s been awesome to do music with Ezra. I’m super grateful and really humbled by it.”

Better Than Ezra, 7 p.m., Thursday, May 16. House of Blues, 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583. Tickets: $43.50+, houseofblues.com.

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