By: Michael Urban (MU) and Jeanne Bettencourt (JB)
Lotus is currently on tour. They play next on Tuesday, November 8th in Bozeman, MT, followed by Missoula, MT on November 9th. Check out full tour schedule here.
 |
Anyone whos met Lotus Mike Greenfield knows how charismatic and warm his personality is. Greenfield was kind enough to spare a half hour of his time at Lotus Summerdance this past August to indulge us with some insider info on the festival, the tour life, and the electronic jam band quartets writing process.
Sitting on a picnic table behind the stage (next to a swing set), Mike answered our questions with ease and enthusiasm. His pleasure at being a part of Lotus was more than apparent, but he also spoke fondly of his other project, Conspirator. We talked for a while about the band and his personal life, and always the funny man, he never missed an opportunity to crack a joke.
MU: How has the tour been going so far?
Mike Greenfield: Tour has been a blast, but different. Weve being playing festivals all summer so its mainly just been weekends. We’ll begin touring to promote our latest album this Fall.
MU: What do you find more tiring, festivals or tours? For example, Lotus was triple-booked the first weekend of June, playing first at Wakarusa in Arkansas, then heading up to Hunter Mountain in New York for Mountain Jam, then back down to Baltimore for Starscape.
Mike Greenfield: Those things happen and can definitely get crazy, but then again you get to sleep in your bed for the next five days and relax till the next gig.
MU: So in some ways its easier playing the festival circuit?
 |
I think so, but there are some things good about playing shows on a tour where you’re up on stage every other night. You get in a groove, are well practiced and also get sound checks. Sometimes at festivals we dont even get one. Each has good and bad. At the end of a two-month tour you’re definitely feeling it and want to go home. I would probably prefer doing the weekend gigs.
MU: How many Summerdances is this for you?
This is only my second one. I started right after the first one three years ago. That [Summerdance] was Steves last show. Then my first show with [Lotus] was actually in Japan. We did a three-day run in Japan, then my first one in the States was in New York all September. So, we are coming up to my two year anniversary.
JB: Did you know the rest of the guys in the band before you started playing with them?
Yeah, I knew them. I used to play in this band called The Allie. The bass player from that group actually is in Yeasayer right now and the guitarist has a band called Silo. For four years we were touring and opened for Lotus when they were in college in Indiana, actually. So thats how we met and became friends. Then, when they moved out to Philly, we kept in touch and did a few side projects together.
 |
MU: Speaking of side projects, what do you find yourself more attached to: the sound/style of Lotus or Conspirator?
I would say Lotus definitely. They are my main project, so Conspirator is definitely on the side. They have like four or five drummers that they play with and rotate in and out.
MU: That brings me to my next question. How did you get involved with Conspirator? And do you just play more or less when you’re free?
Ive been friends with them for years and I played with them [Biscuits] a lot, but never with Conspirator before. But I did the first time over their last New Years run because Allen got sick, then they were like, Come on and play more with us.
MU: What are your thoughts/feelings on the overlap, or seeming lack thereof, between Lotus fans and Biscuits fans?
There definitely is some overlap. I think that a lot of Lotus fans are younger. I dont know, lets say theres a 25-35-percent crossover [laughs]. Its basically the same genre.
 |
MU: Whats the craziest thing you’ve ever seen on tour? (We all laugh; Mike pauses, looking off as countless memories come to mind, many not eligible for the interview). Its been a long time; youve been with Lotus coming up on two years.
Thats a lot of shows – its a tough one – I mean I would have to say the most memorable in terms of show/venue would be Red Rocks, hands down. All Good was probably the biggest crowd we have ever played for though, which was about 25,000 people at the main stage last year. (Lotus 7/9/2010 All Good Festival set is still their most downloaded show).
Playing festivals you see a lot, and they can really be so much fun. Playing Bonnaroo was big for us, and for such a huge festival it was extremely well run. We had a great time. There are a lot of festivals I want to get back to.
MU: Being in a serious relationship myself, whats it like being in one on the road?
It can be tough, but doesnt have to be. I just got engaged over the summer with a tentative date of September 2012, but nothing is set in stone. This summer hasnt been too tough because of us playing almost only weekends, but this fall between our big tour and Conspirator its going to be tough being gone for two months. But she is certainly not sitting at home waiting for me to come back. She’s in school and that takes up a lot of her time.
JB: Does your fianc ever come on tour with you?
Not really. She comes to some shows, definitely the local ones in Philly or New York. She’s a Lotus fan, but actually used to be really big into Phish and was on tour with them for awhile. Now shes getting older and studying for a PhD at the Afro Jewish Center at Temple, and does a lot with that. I have to say though, I think a good way to look at it is that if I’m gone for a month or whatever when I come back we really miss each other, and you dont have that situation where if you see someone everyday you might start to take them for granted. When youre gone for awhile and come back it just makes the time we spend together that much more special. Glass half full, you know, but sometimes it’s hard.
 |
MU: Talking about the new album a little bit [Lotus self-titled album was released September 23 on SCI Fidelty Records], Luke and Jesse share the songwriting, but what is the process like for Lotus when coming up with new material?
Its actually a very well-oiled system we have down. With us all being spread out over the country now, Jesse and I being in Philly, Mike and Chuck in Colorado, and Luke moving out to San Fran, its not like we are in the same city and can get together and jam to come up with material. So what happens is the Millers come up with some rough demos and email them to us, we learn them, and then we have these really compressed practice sessions where we get together for 3 days, 7 hours a day, sometimes more, just getting after it. When I get the demos emailed, the drums tend to be very basic because they are not drummers, so I take that and tweak it a little, add my own thing. I feel my goal in this project is just to take what they come up with and bring it to life. I try to make their vision of the songs come to fruition, so thats my job. I mean, some parts of songs its very clear what the sound should be, whereas others are left open for me to play with and inject my own thing.
MU: Was there a lot of pressure coming in and taking the place of essentially two drummers?
 |
I was lucky to have a year to get comfortable, but even then I knew coming in. I loved Steve and I learned A LOT from him, and there are also a lot of times when I really miss Chuck. With it now just being the four guys when you’re doing improv it can definitely be a little easier to bridge the gaps and whatnot, but I definitely miss [Chuck], and he will be joining us on this fall tour. Coming in after Steve, I know I play differently than he does, and I know there are people who say, Oh it sounds so different now, but I try to add my own thing. I dont want to be a copycat. I try to float in the middle. The sound has changed a lot though. It used to be more kinda funk and noodling, and when I came in the sound was changing, so we have been able to grow and change together.
MU: Speaking of influences, what’s your biggest influence in terms of drumming?
When I was a kid I used to listen to a lot of John Bonham. Then I became more of a drum dork and started listening to Dennis Chambers and those guys, and they were all about playing a million miles an hour and trying to fit in as many drum notes as they could in a song. But then I got into more tasteful guys, even some early Disco Biscuits stuff with Sammy. At first when I listened to Sammy I wasn’t into it cause he wasnt a drummers’ drummer, like going all crazy and stuff, but the more I listened to him I realized that he was really about laying down the foundation for the band. He knew exactly where and when they wanted to go somewhere, and I learned a lot from him. We’re still really good friends.
 |
MU: Who are you listening to now? What’s on your iPod?
HmmI still like to go back and forth. Sometimes I like a lot of the new electronic stuff Eskmo is really cool. I like his stuff, but I can only listen to that stuff for a little while before it drives me crazy. I was exposed to so much electronic music between Bisco and Starscape it was almost an assault of electronica. I was actually just at home recently and I picked up the new Eddie Vedder solo album [Ukulele Songs] and oh my God, it was so amazing and refreshing to listen to songs with a melody and harmony and raw songwriting. I try not to limit myself though – I like everything. I like Andrew Bird a lot as well.
MU: Back to Lotus, the new album is out. Tell us a little about that.
We recorded it in Kensington, Philadelphia, at Dr. Dogs studio, who we know really well. Its an old warehouse, and we recorded it right to reel to give it that warm feeling, then of course, converted it over to digital. We recorded all the basic tracks live in the studio playing together, which is always good, and then the guys added a lot of overdubs and Rempel came in and did some additional guitar stuff. We did it over a couple of different sessions. We are such a live band, so it’s fun to be able to record the majority of our material like that.
 |
All the songs were pretty well road tested, but I can remember actually having to read off sheet music a couple of times in the studio. For example, Orchids is one we dont play often. And we did want to save some stuff for the fall tour as well. I’m really proud of it. It sounds great. I’m really excited to have the fans hear it. I think its us, and it being self-titled says that I think. Its where we’re headed. [When the interviewers caught up with Jesse Miller later in the weekend he told them that Lotus have, at minimum, another whole album worth of material from those recording sessions and plan to put out some EPs or B-sides in one fashion or another].
JB: Some of the song titles, even without lyrics, seem to go along with the songs so well. How do they get named?
Jesse and Luke pick them. They are both very well read, but Luke especially is quite the words man. Hes a little bit of a dork [laughs]. Every day on his Facebook page he puts out a word of the day and he has quite the vocabulary. They come up with some pretty interesting song titles. Its hard when the songs dont have words.
MU: Lets talk covers. You dont do a lot, but you do play Ozzys Crazy Train, which many wouldnt expect. How did this happen?
The first time we did Crazy Train was New Years of 2009. We try to do different themes for New Years and the theme that year was hard rock riffs. Then over Halloween we actually did a whole Black Sabbath thing, so we got into Ozzy a little bit. It’s fun to try different covers.
JB: What is the fan base like in Philly?
Philly is great. Its one of our top markets. It goes Philly, Chicago, Denver, and then New York, obviously. I love our fans.
MU: Anything you can tell us about the cover art?
Luke found this old photo. No idea where he found it, but he sent it to all of us and we were all digging it, so we kept it.
Lotus Tour Dates :: Lotus News
JamBase | Unfolding
Go See Live Music!
