Before their January 29th show at the Hard Rock Café on the Strip, our very own Mike Law sat down with Strung Out drummer Jordan Burns to discuss gambling, drum clinics, the band’s Top Contenders record and more.
What do you guys like to do while you’re in Vegas?
Usually we go straight to the whores. No, I don’t know. Everyone kind of does their own thing. There’s a lot to do. I don’t like coming here all the time. I like to gamble, and I definitely have some issues. I guess that’s been my drug in Vegas. I always tell myself I’m not going to play, but I’ll probably play.
What’s you game?
I’ve been playing poker a lot lately.
I’m sure you’ll go home rich tonight.
Most likely. Those are the chances. That’s how Vegas got built like this, right?
A lot of bands list Strung Out as an influence, like A Wilhelm Scream for example, who got really big over the last few years. Are there any bands that you’re particularly fond of that have listed you guys as an influence?
Of course, we like A Wilhelm Scream. If they list us as an influence, I think that’s very cool. There are some bands that have gotten really, really big that list us as an influence, which is awesome. I just wish they’d take us on tour. I won’t mention any names. But one starts with an ‘R.’
What about some smaller bands that you guys have played with? Any great ones that we may not have heard of?
Evidently, we like The Sheds, as they’re here with us for the weekend. We also really like this band Radio Threat. It just so happens that we have members from both of those bands working as our crew people, so it kind of pans out. Mac [singer for The Sheds] has been my drum tech for the last 2 years or so. The Sheds have been working on their band quite a bit and they put out a new record and stepped it up to another level. Then, our guitar tech Favio, he’s got his band Radio Threat and they’re really cool. We enjoy their tunes.
You get a chance to see a lot of music for sure. Sometimes there’s good, and a lot of times there’s bad.
Do you ever do any drum clinics or anything like that?
I’m kind of in demand, you know, being one of the world’s best drummers. But no, I’ve never done that stuff. I’ve thought about it, but it’s quite a nerve-racking thing to me actually. I have a few friends that do that kind of stuff. My friend Dean Butterworth who plays in Good Charlotte, he’s a gnarly badass drummer and he’s been doing clinics. Another friend of mine, Glen Sobel who’s now playing with Alice Cooper, he’s just insane. He does that kind of stuff too. I go and see what those guys do and what it entails. Maybe one day I’ll do it, but you really have to be on top of the game when you’re the sole focus of something like that. There’s not room for mistakes. Not that I ever make mistakes.
How did you guys choose the songs for Top Contenders: The Best of Strung Out?
That would have been a very, very difficult choice and a total argue-fest, but the band narrowed it down and then gave it to Fat Mike and a few of the employees at Fat Wreck Chords. We made a chart of all the songs from all the different albums and sent it to everybody to vote. You had 23 songs to pick from for the marking. So everybody marked it up, and whichever songs got the most votes, we went with them. There might have been a few little tweaks. I think someone at Fat Wreck Chords demanded that we have “Virginia Madison” on there. And we agreed
Of course, you’re going to have some fans that are disappointed that such and such song didn’t make it on there or whatever. But overall, I think we did a really good job at putting the collection together. To me, that album is really cool because it’s not remastered, it’s remixed. We went back in there with Ryan Green and he remixed all of the songs and the three new ones that are on there. For me, it gave everything new life. All the songs got an updated sound and a lot of balls. We got over 500 fan tattoos in there and a brief timeline. I think the album’s very cool.
Is there one particular song that you look forward to playing every night?
No. [laughs]
Because you look forward to playing all of them?
That’s correct. I like playing everything that we do. I enjoy all of our music. There isn’t one specific one that I like or dislike. I like it all.
How is your 2012 tour schedule looking?
We have Australia coming up. We’re going over there for the Soundwave Festival which is huge. We’re really happy to be a part of that. Directly from there, we’re going to Japan to tour over there for a bit. When we get back from that, we don’t have anything immediately planned.
Hopefully, we’ll kick ourselves in the ass and get to writing some new music and prepping for a new record. I don’t know if 2012 will actually see a new record, but I’d like to think so. This is Strung Out we’re talking about, so you never know.
Photo by Tyler Newton
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