Living Things - Rock With AConscience

Mon 1st May, 2006 in Features

Heralded by Rolling Stone Magazine as the next big thing – Living Things prove rock can have brains and bite.Whether they’re dodging bullets fired by outraged Republicans or getting the crowd jumping at sold out gigs, the band is no stranger to controversy – just witness some of the tracks on their debut album, Ahead of the Lions, which Rolling Stone cited as “a nonstop assault on military-industrial imperialism, religious intolerance and blind obedience that roars”.

FasterLouder’s Marija Zeko talks with Eve Berlin from Living Things and discovers the bass player is a socially conscious individual that wishes to contribute to the betterment of the world: learn from the fans and looks forward to visiting our shores in August.

M: Eve, that’s a very interesting name you’ve got, as do your brothers (Lillian and Bosh). What were your parents thinking of when they gave you those types of names?
E: I wish I knew.

M: Did you tend to get teased at school a fair bit with a name like Eve?
E: Yeah, it wore off after a while.

M: If nothing else, it is unique and sounds awesome?
E: Thank you, I thank my parents.

M: Your music has been compared to the Ramones and Nirvana, were they your influences?
E: Absolutely not! I think a lot of people just kinda wanna put a label on you or wanna categorize you. You have loud guitars and they see that we have long hair, so they’re like ok. It’s easy for them or it’s easy for journalists and writers to say ok they sound like this and that. It gets their point across very clearly without having to write a lot of words. I don’t think any one band has their own thing going on. I don’t think there’s any band right now that sounds like Nirvana. I just think it’s easy for people to categorise bands, so the reader can grasp it. But I think in reality we don’t sound like them at all, they’re definitely not an influence on us. Growing up, everyone heard Nirvana, but, I never learnt how to play a Nirvana song, so I can’t say we sound like them at all.

M: If you could closely label yourself with anyone, who would you say is your influence or you are remotely similar to?
E: Well, I can’t really pin, I can’t tell you what we are inspired by, you can maybe form your own opinion.

M: And who would that be?
E: We grew up around a lot of original old time rock ‘n’ roll, Chuck Berry, Ike Turner and Rhythm and Blues like Muddy Waters, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley. So, from a musical stand point that’s what we grew up on, ‘cause growing up in St Louis, you had Chuck Berry from there and Ike Turner was strong. The Midwest is where a lot of rock music began. That’s kinda where we grew musically from and then lyrically we’re very inspired by books, literature and poetry. What inspires us is, my brother will have a group of lyrics or will have a song title and those words inspire us to write a song, cause it’s kinda like putting music to a story or putting music to a movie, it’s very cinematic for us and you know we’re just trying to write the music that conveys the lyrics.

M: So Lilian is definitely the writer of Living Things’ songs, do you contribute much?
E: Well Lilian, he has like the nucleus, he’ll have the song title or a couple verses and maybe a few chords or kinda like the beginning of what he thinks the song is going to be like, so he’ll kinda bring that and we’ll all get to a room and kinda hash it out, add our own parts and sometimes it sounds kind of the same as where it began and other times it turns out completely different. But Lilian usually is the one, I mean he is the one who has the lyrics and song title for sure.

M: Your album “Ahead of the Lions” has fared well with the critics. Did the making of the album go well?
E: Did it go well?

M: As brothers, was there much in-house fighting?
E: Yeah, there were definitely moments of complete insanity, we have people from the record label come in and kind of be a referee or we were never going to be able to have it done. We all had our own opinions and stuck to it (laughs). A lot of fighting went on. I think that’s the most we ever fought, was during the making of the record. Now that we’ve been touring, we’ve kind of all calmed down a little bit.

M: You’ve played with Velvet Revolver and The Vines. How did you find Craig Nicholls, the lead singer from The Vines, with his erratic behavior onstage?
E: Yeah, I think we played 3 shows with them. I think I met the bass player, we didn’t even meet him (Nicholls). It was like the first time they came over to America, it was 3 years ago, maybe he was kinda in his own world.

M: He’s been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, that’s responsible for his behavior, which at that stage went undiagnosed
E: They’re a great band. I wish them well

M: Speaking of conditions your brother Lilian has gone on record as having “Hyperactivity disorder“
E: Yeah, ADHD

M: He has quite a passionate view on the usage of Prozac.
E: Yeah, a lot of kids are misdiagnosed with that. Usually it’s cause they’re in school and don’t care what the teacher has to say, therefore the easy solution is to give the kid a pill.

M: As opposed to addressing it!
E: I think that is such a cheap shot, a cheap way out, when back in the 50’s and 60’s you’d be grounded or put in detention…you go to school nowadays there’s all this sugar and caffeine in the cafeteria. A kid drinks a bunch of Coca-Cola, eats a couple of Hershey bars and has to go and sit at a desk for 2hours, of course they’re going to go bonkers (laughs).

M: They need an outlet
E: I think that prescription drugs for kids has been a way for the government to make money and a new way to control the youth of America and the youth of the world…it leads to harder drugs. A lot of people ask us this question, are you guys against drugs? And we’re totally not against it. Anything you want to do and you believe in it, you wanna go do those drugs or do this or do that, go do it man! If you’re going to be subscribed something and you’re not 18 years old and you’re not old enough to say yes or no to it. You’re being forced to take this, that’s wrong and it totally fucks with your head!
When I was going to school, the kids were selling it, chopping it up and snorting it or chopping it up and smoking it. The kids that got subscribed it weren’t even taking it, they were selling it and making a profit. It’s like a form of cocaine.

M: It’s unbelievable!
E: It’s just unbelievable and to not even completely test it 100%!

M: It probably works for one person and it’s assumed it will work for the rest…
E: Especially when kids have a handful of these pills and they’re passing it out, it alters their state of thinking. As they get older that’s going to push them into “Oh, Let me try this, let me try that”. It really is like a gateway to drugs, these kids are like, I’ve been popping a pill since 10, so now while I’m 18, why don’t I smoke something to see if that changes how I think or why don’t I try this different pill or snort this. If at an early age you’ve been told to take something to make you feel a certain way, that’s going to grow into something as you get older, you’re going to want to take different things to keep trying to change the way you are, I think it’s totally backwards!

M: With any problem, learning to communicate and addressing the problem instead of a quick, is the answer.
E: Exactly

M: Your band deals with many issues, your songs ‘Bom Bom Bom’ and ‘High Hour’ are songs reflective of our times, such as the futility of the Iraqi war and the spend thrift generation. How reflective is your music of current events. Are you inspired by the daily news?
E: Yeah, an artist is inspired by its surroundings. Artists are reflections of their surroundings. Right now we are in times that are very dark and all that’s around us is what’s going on around the world…that’s why we have this album out right now and that’s why we wrote about it, ‘cause we’re just a reflection of what’s going on, we’re just writing about what’s in front of us and it’s surprising to me that there aren’t more bands, more artists talking about these subjects because to me they’re unavoidable and I don’t understand how people are able to avoid and deny what’s going on…and still be an artist, cause you know, in the 60s bands were writing about what’s going on, that’s why we have all these songs. In the time of Jesus there were all these painters and they were writing/painting about what’s going on…there were plays about slavery…art has always been a reflection of what’s going on and the surroundings of the times. That’s all we’re dealing with, we’re just writing about what’s around us and this is what’s around us.

M: The music of our times is about ripping off great songs, having your five minutes of fame and then being replaced by the next new thing
E: Exactly! I think that’s something that’s beginning to slowly fade away. I hope that more bands and artists want to write songs about what they believe in and try to make statements and not be afraid to make statements. As far as Rock ‘n’ Roll, that’s what Rock n Roll was founded on, about writing what you believe in and make a stance. You don’t have to agree with what we’re saying, you just open your eyes and form an opinion. All we’re trying to do is inspire kids to pick up guitars, pick up their pens and write down stuff, form an opinion, have a message and go out there and try to do something about it. If we can do that, then we’ve done our job!

M: Do you find it therapeutic playing and speaking your mind, as well talking to the kids?
E: Yeah of course. We’ve been blessed from the fact that we’ve been able to travel around the world and play in front of tons pf people. It’s very exciting to us, so the least that we can do in return is try to spread a message of things that we’ve picked up and learnt about and maybe we know a thing or two about things that other people don’t know about, so we try to inform those people and hopefully they’ll tell us stuff that we don’t know about. It opens up the communication of people, trying to gather everyone up, it’s ok…this is what we don’t like and if we don’t like it now, think what it’s going to be like in 40 years from now

M: When it’s a bit too hard to change
E: What’s going to happen to the state of affairs in 2006? What’s going to be the state of affairs in 2006? What’s going to be in 2016? Who knows what it’s going to be like! Hopefully we start changing now, it’s the young people, it’s the people of our generation that has to do it, so everyone needs to stop, drop their joysticks and their playstation games and start trying to do something about it!

M: Where do you see yourself in 2016?
E: (Laughs) I don’t know!

M: Where would you like to be?
E: Whatever I’m doing, it’ll be something I believe in , something that I feel strong about, that I’m passionate about, hopefully that will involve something with my brothers and music and social/political awareness

M: That’s just more or less an extension of what you’re already doing?
E: Yeah, I hope to be doing it on a greater level. You know it would be great for us to become successful, make money and be able to help put that money back into society and do a few things for the world.

M: What’s next for Living Things?
E: We’re in America until May 1st, we get to end our tour at Coachella – a big Arts and Music festival and then we’re gonna record for a few weeks and then head off to Europe for a bunch of European festivals. Hopefully we’ll be in Australia sometime in August.