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June 1, 2008
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SZ: I'M HERE WITH MY MAN, G. LOVE. YOUR NEW ALBUM IS COMING OUT JUNE 24TH, SUPER HERO BROTHER. HOW'D YOU SETTLE ON THAT TITLE? G: Six years ago I wrote a song named, Super Hero Brother, during the beginning of the Bush Era. As we're still in the tail end of his era, I felt I'd like to re-cut it and put it on a record because I've been playing it a lot lately and it's one of those songs that caught on in our live shows. It's real tongue-in-cheek, me rambling off all the problems with the famous people in the world. Here's a line from it: Saddam Hussein, Spiderman and Bin Laden Britney Spears, Jesus and the whole cast of Friends met for brunch last week to solve the world's problems and they called on me. |
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It's the last song on the record. We were gonna call the record, Down & Dirty at first, but it didn't get a good reaction out of a lot people behind the scenes making the record. I was a little disappointed, but I did a vote on my MySpace page and Super Hero Brother won. Also, I feel it's the most original title, whether you love it or hate, it's memorable, like the name of our band (G. Love & Special Sauce) which always got a strong reaction from people...like, what the hell is that? I gotta check them out. STOKED TO SEE YOU'VE KEPT THE CREATIVE FIRE BURNING. It's our third Brushfire record [L.A. based label owned by Jack Johnson and run by Emmett Malloy], and my tenth release. It's also our 15th year as a band with our original line up.
THE SINGLE ON THE RELEASE IS PEACE, LOVE & HAPPINESS. YOU GENERATED THIS AFTER AN EXPERIENCE YOU HAD IN BRAZIL WITH FELLOW MUSICIAN/SURFER DONOVAN FRANKENREITER? We went and played in Brazil, near the favelas, and I was tentative to go as I thought I would get shot or robbed...but once we got there I saw it wasn't violent. It's true the favelas are owned and run by drug lords, but it's basically poor people, good people at that. But we went for the kids; we were a part of a surf outreach program. Jack (Johnson) donated money and had the enclosure built where they keep their surfboards in their community center. The reaction to the music we were playing for these kids was amazing. It was one of those magical days. You see these kids and it's heartbreaking because they are bright and full of life and love and they don't have much of a chance to get ahead. We had a great day with them and got so much inspiration out of them that I went home and literally had two hours to get ready for the show, and wrote the song, and played it that night for the kids. The record was already done and I wanted to cut that song because I was so hyped on it. So I did when I got back from Brazil and now it's the single. "Surfing always cleanses me and always makes me feel like a person again after all of the abuse I put myself through on tour."
- G. Love
HOW DID YOU START SURFING? I first got on a surfboard when I was eight-years-old. Before that I got on a belly-board in Avalon, New Jersey, where photographer Scott Soens is from, and that is how I met Jack in the first place. Avalon is one of those classic New Jersey surf towns, with a lot of talented surfers. I never was the best surfer, but good enough to hang and actually I've gotten better the last six years since connecting with Kelly (Slater) and going on trips and getting to surf with people like Jack and Donavon. Surfing with those guys is inspiring and it's like a private lesson, which gives you a lot of confidence, and through doing those Kelly trips to Fiji and Hawaii, I've become friends with a lot of the top surfers in the world. I've got to surf with the Irons' brothers, Rob Machado and Taylor Knox. I love Donavon, he is like 'my brother from another'...surfing with him is so awesome. It's funny because I've gotten to be really close with Kelly and Donavon, so we hangout and I just think of them as my friends and not as being the best athletes in the world...until we get in the water. SO WHEN YOU'RE ON TOUR ANYWHERE NEAR THE COAST, YOU'RE ON IT, YEAH? We've got surfboard racks in the trailer and always have a bag of wetsuits, so we are always prepared to surf on the Philadelphonic bus. My road manager Frank is also an avid surfer, and so we try to steal away whenever we can. IS YOUR TOUR BUS GREEN? I don't want to bullshit, our bus is not run on biodiesel. But we have carbon offsets through Green Mountain Energy, so our whole touring is carbon offset. It gives back, but let's be honest, traveling around the world playing music uses a lot of fossil fuels...but it's my gig and at least we are trying to carbon offset. YOU'RE ALSO A SPOKESMAN FOR MALARIA NO MORE. TELL US ABOUT THAT. I just became affiliated with this cause, and the goal is to end deaths due to Malaria--which is responsible for one million deaths each year in Africa, mostly children from infants to eight years old. It's a disease that was eradicated in the U.S. at the turn of the century and it's curable now and preventable if you have mosquito nets, which are available at $2/pop. So the medication is there and the nets are available, it's just a matter of funding to help these children get to these things. It's easy to do your part, just go to malarianomore.org and check it out. YOU FIND YOURSELF PLAYING HOOPS A LOT ON THE ROAD BEFORE SHOWS? Hoops, the road and guitar playing don't go well together (laughing). Every time I've surfed before shows though, I'm almost guaranteed to have a good show. Sometimes you gotta be careful as you might surf yourself out and get a bit drained before you go onstage, but surfing always cleanses me and always makes me feel like a person again after all of the abuse I put myself through on tour. A two-hour surf session is enough to bring me back into my proper self. There's nothing like it. For more check out: iTunes or Philadelphonic.com MORE SURF NEWS SURFLINE HOME PAGE |