Pepper Q&A

The House of Blues layout has two levels: the open floor and the upper level seats. I was located on the floor and the crowd’s energy was infectiously thrilling. Pepper was sending the audience their love through their passionate performance, and the audience was sending their love right back by singing the songs out loud and dancing to every ska beat.

This reggae-rock band surprisingly decided to perform their most popular hit, “Give it Up,” in the middle of the show. Bret Bollinger introduced the song by saying he coined the phrase, “there’s always something in the air in Beantown,” and then mentioned an after party at the nightclub Avalon, leaving the crowd going wild at the announcement. Then Bret screamed, “Sorry Boston, I thought it was you!” Everyone knew this meant the beginning of “Give it up” because it was a manipulated version of the hilarious lyric from the song that actually goes, “sorry, thought it was you.”

Pepper ended the show with two of their other greatest hits, “No Control” and “Ashes.” Right before playing “Ashes,” Kaleo Wassman started chanting, “We don’t want to go” to the beat of the song. It fit with the meaning because the song discusses letting go of the past and moving on. Pepper was letting the audience know they did not want to leave the stage but had to, while the audience was chanting the same thing back.

A couple hours before the show, I had the fortunate opportunity to interview Pepper’s drummer, Yesod Williams. Backstage at the House of Blues in a small room, with a couple of couches, a bathroom, and liquor and water bottles lining the counter, Yesod introduced himself with a calm and pleasant demeanor. I was not sure what to expect from this rock drummer, but just as he self-described the band in one of his answers in the interview, he was genuinely approachable and open to any question that I threw his way.

MUSE: How is the recent “Like a Surgeon” tour going with Brother Ali and Pour Habit?

Yesod Williams: It’s good. Poor Habit’s done the whole thing. We found them through our good friends, The Expendables, and heard nothing but good things about them. We wanted to build a diverse line-up for the tour and it was Brother Ali’s first night last night. Before, Swayze was on the tour. So first it’s the Punk-rock thing then the hip-hop thing and then us. Brother Ali rips! He’s a lyrical madman. So it’s cool, it’s something different, a whole bunch of different kinds of music. Everyone gets more bang for their buck.

M: When you tour with these different bands, like 311, Snoop Dogg, or The Expendables do you guys feed off each other or is it competitive?

YW: Ya ya, friendly competition. Like if someone absolutely crushes the crowd right before you, it gets your motor revving to go 150 miles an hour and try to make it that much more over the top. It keeps you on your tows. If you are playing before someone, you want to wear the crowd out before they get on. Everyone we tour with we’re actually really good friends with at the end of the day, like 311, and The Offspring, who we met this summer. We became good friends, and also Pennywise…

M: So friends or frenemies?

YW: No, friends. They’re people we talk to not just when we are on tour but everyday life, like Slightly Stoopid.

M: How does it feel being in Boston?

YW: Oh it’s always good, there’s always something special in the air.

M: Do you guys go to any bars in the area?

YW: Yea, we do what we can, but we always have to leave around one or two in the morning to leave for the next place.

M: Do you feel there’s a difference playing in East Coast venues verses the West Coast?

YW: No, not really, nothing besides your typical different accent here or there. As far as the vibe of all our fans and people who enjoy coming out to see us, I think their attitudes are all one in the same. That’s why I think they relate and why they come see us. I’m not trying to pigeon hole one kind of people that come and see us because all kinds of people come to see us: people who like heavy metal, people who like reggae, people who like hip hop. They all have that overall carefree, open-minded vibe, which is the one thing they share in common.

M: You guys have a new album coming out in just days, October 12th, called Stitches…

YW: It’s actually just a teaser for our actual album. It’s just a five song EP (Extended Play= more music than a single, but less than an album). We built our own studio this year called the Hatch and we have had our own record label for years, Law Records. So we have been slowly but surely recording at our own pace, but we didn’t want everyone to have to wait forever. We are just putting this out for a little bit of an appetizer and we’re going to finish the album after the first of the year, and put it out next summer.

M: What should we expect on this new album?

YW: It’s a combination of No Shame and Kona Town put together. It’s pulling the best out of us. This is the first time we’re consciously self-producing. We’re stoked, it seems to be doing good based on the reactions we’ve gotten from playing the songs live and from the people working on the album as far as post-production; everyone feels really good about it.

M: Do you ever get sick of playing the most popular songs like “Give it Up” or “No Control?”

YW: “Give It Up,” no, not really, “No Control,” no, not really, “Ashes,” not really. There’s certain songs you like playing more than others but at the end of the day you got to look at the fact that you are playing music for a living, which doesn’t necessarily suck. So, how much can you really complain?

M: On that note, when was it that you felt like you guys really made it?

YW: I try not to have that realization, because then I might start going through the motions and not trying as hard (laughs.). We’re always trying to up our game, better our band, and try to spread our wings as far as we can. In the next few years we really want to concentrate on all the overseas markets. We want to go to South America, go back to Australia, and back to Japan. We get tons of people hitting us up on Twitter and Facebook to go down to Brazil.

M: Do you personally have a favorite Pepper song?

YW: Right now, to play live, is probably “Wanted” from the album No Shame. We’ve never played it live until this tour, so it’s pretty much a brand new song even though we recorded it three or four years ago. It never saw the light of day besides on the record, so it’s been fun

M: Are you guys as cohesive as you guys were on day one, in 1996, when Pepper first began?

YW: Even more cohesive.

M: Is there anything you want people to know about Pepper that maybe they might not already know that they cannot just get from your records or watching you live?

YW: We’re just normal people is what it is. We’re always cruising around and we are super approachable and we want to make sure everyone keeps that in mind because we like going out and meeting our fans and hanging out. Make sure to come say hi, which a lot of people already know about us, but if you don’t know, it’s pretty much how it is. We’re thankful for everyone that comes out and sees us; we don’t take that for granted. We don’t take anything for granted, and we don’t take ourselves too seriously.