Receiving comparisons to Pink Floyd is something that would likely send waves of fulfillment through many musicians. So when Hurt guitarist Paul Spatola hears such a comment he’s a little stunned - particular since Floyd is not necessarily one of his main influences.
He was more likely to put on a Led Zeppelin or Van Halen record, even though Hurt has gained a name for itself as an atmospheric, often moody band. On the band’s latest release Vol. II, you get everything from female gospel singers to effects-laden, grandiose arrangements, and it’s fairly easy to see why the Pink Floyd comparison pops up so frequently.
Although most of the songs were written by singer
J. Loren Wince years before
Spatola began to add his own input, the guitarist told
UG that the band as a whole made the decisions in the studio. Spatola’s personal touch is heard throughout, whether through a dobro, lap steel, or a traditional electric. Should you get the opportunity to see Hurt live, you’re also likely be treated to Spatola using a violin bow on his electric guitar, channeling his inner Jimmy Page.
UG: There are quite a few epic songs on Vol. II. Did the band go into the studio with the intention of writing larger-than-life songs?
Paul: Loren, our singer, he had written a lot of these songs a long time ago. That’s why there is Vol. I and this is Vol. II. Most of this stuff was pre-written. So with the exception of “Ten Ton Brick,” which was something me and him collaborated on, and the song “Aftermath,” which is like the companion piece, everything else he had. From where he had it when he first had these songs as demos, we’ve grown as a band. We said, “We’re going into this making this the best that we possibly can. We don’t want to limit ourselves to anything. If we want to use a banjo or if we want to get some chick singers, let’s do it.”
We took a lot of ideas from everybody that was involved, including the producer and all the band members. “You know what I think would be really good here? Let’s try this.” We would try it and if it didn’t work, we wouldn’t use it. If it worked, we’d use it. We asked our manager and people that are really close to use, “What do you think? Is this just ridiculous that we’re doing this? Does this sound good?” The response was usually good.
A lot of people compare us to Pink Floyd for some reason. We don’t sound like that, but just the nature of the songs and where they go and the arrangements. It’s not just a simple verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus out type thing. We try to make the parts of the song fit the lyrics. So if there is something that he wants to scream, it should be heavier. We don’t try to fit it into any certain formula for the record or whatever it is.
Did the record label embrace that attitude?
We actually got really lucky with the label, as far as they really had no involvement in any of the making of it! We got really lucky with the first one. They signed us after our first record was recorded. So they didn’t change anything on it. They said, “Okay.” They just took it and put it out. Same thing for this one. We just went ahead and recorded it and turned it in, and they said, “Yup.” We weren’t sitting in the studio, having a visit from the A&R guy or something.
On the band’s website, there is some talk that the recording process wasn’t always “smooth sailing.” I take it there were some rough patches along the way.
There were. Obviously, when you’re sitting in a studio for 6 months with the same people, they can get on your nerves. One person wants one idea, and the other person doesn’t. So we kind of butt heads a little bit. The producer is like, “Listen, I know what I’m doing! It should go like this.” “No, it doesn’t go like this.” But we got through it and everybody at the other end is completely happy and satisfied with it. No one is disappointed that they didn’t get their way. We get to go on tour and do what we love to do.
The primary song that you co-wrote, “Ten Ton Brick,” stands out as being one of the true rock tracks on the album. Did you come up with the original riff that got the whole thing started?
Yeah. We kind of did a bunch of songs that are a little more mellow and not as heavy as the first one. We needed something that was a little more upbeat and stuff on the album to break it up, so it doesn’t get boring to listen to.
We were on the Alice In Chains tour and we were sitting in a hotel at Myrtle Beach. I had that riff, and he came in and played the idea that eventually became the chorus of the song. He played it like it was a really slow thing, so I just started playing the riff to it that I had. I said, “That will work great to the sort of thing I have.” I kind of made it a little heavier and took it from there. He had vocal ideas, and we worked on it up until we were in the studio recording it. It was something that we always had that we were constantly working on. Most of the other stuff he had pre-written, so it didn’t need too much work.
Did you write that main riff on an acoustic?
Yeah, we wrote it all on acoustic. We’ll be in hotel rooms and on the road all our gear is packed up in a trailer. So we had our acoustic stuff out for when we do radio stuff. So we just ended up using acoustics to write most of our stuff. As soon as you hear it, it just sounds like it should be acoustic. But then you’ve got to plug it in and try it!
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| "Our singer had written a lot of these songs a long time ago." |
“Summers Lost” goes in a lot of different musical directions. Considering how elaborate it is, did it take the most time to write?
He had that for a long time, and I’ve heard many different variations of it. There was one where it was all slow, and then one that was all heavy. I guess he just kind of broke it up and said, “This should be here and that should go there.” When we got together and started playing it as a band, I think we ended up finding out where it should be heavy and where it felt right, where the screaming shit is going to be or where it’s mellow.
Are you playing an acoustic slide on it?
Yeah, I’m playing that on a dobro actually.
When did you decide that the dobro was the right instrument for that song?
I had originally done slide stuff on that. Going into this, we had figured we were going to try a bunch of different instruments. So we tried a bunch of things. We got a banjo, which we ended up using on “Alone With The Sea.” We had a dobro, which we used on “Summers Lost” and “Alone With The Sea.” We’ve got a lap steel on “Assurance.” We just got a bunch of different things that we tried to make the record sound a little bit more broad.
So had you experimented much with the banjo or dobro much before making Vol. II?
I’ve played them before, but it wasn’t anything I had planned on using. So we rented it and I was kind of having to get used to it again. While we were doing other stuff, I would just sit and play it a little bit, getting back into seeing how an instrument actually works and what I can do with it, what I can contribute to the song. There were times that I used it in songs where it just didn’t really work out or where we edited out.
I read that you were originally a piano player. Is that true?
Yes. I still am, actually. I play piano on the record and I play keyboards live. I started playing piano when I was 5. So I’ve been playing that longer than I’ve played guitar.
When did you decide to pick up the guitar?
I guess maybe about 15 years ago. I taught myself how to play. After playing piano, it was really good because it got me used to music theory, chords, and all that kind of thing. The agility of my fingers made it easy for me to just pick up the guitar. At that point, I was listening to Led Zeppelin and Van Halen and all that stuff, and I said, “I want to play guitar!” So I just kind of taught myself how to play guitar.
You mentioned earlier that people have compared your music to Pink Floyd. Are you a fan of the band?
I do like Pink Floyd. I wasn’t like a huge Pink Floyd fan ever. I mean, I like them a lot. I think The Wall is great. Dark Side is great. Actually, all of their stuff is really good. I’m just not really into the real mellow…I never really put it on just to listen to it.
There are some very cool effects that you hear on Vol. II. At the beginning of “Alone With The Sea,” what’s making that low, bellowing sound?
It’s supposed to sound like a whale kind of thing. I think that was done on a cello. I don’t even know! That was something that was recorded like years ago, and we just kind of imported that into it. Live, I do it on guitar. I do it on a guitar with a violin bow.
That’s some great Jimmy Page action.
Yeah. It sounds actually pretty similar to what’s on the record.
Is your setup for the studio basically the same as your live equipment?
No! (Laughs) Not really! A lot of the versions of the songs are completely different because there is so much going on with the record, and there is only 4 of us. But the things that are standout points on the record, people are like, “Wow, that’s really cool.” I think we shouldn’t leave it out of shows. We should find a way to do that live.
Obviously, in like “Talking To God” there’s a bunch of chicks singing gospel kind of stuff. Well, we can’t do that live. But anything else we do as close as we can. We’ll take whatever steps we can to do it live. We’ll use the violin a lot. I play banjo a lot. I play the keyboards and try to cover as many things as we can.
Do the guitars and amps usually stay the same, though?
For the most part, I use the stuff that I use in the studio. We rented some random gear here and there just to get different effects on things, like smaller amps and stuff. Vox and stuff like that, just to get some of the clean tones. But I go out with a Marshall and a Bogner. I used that on the record predominantly with Les Pauls.
Have you always preferred Les Pauls?
Yeah. I play a couple different Les Pauls. I have a Les Paul Baritone that I use on the record and just a couple of standard ones. I used a lot of other stuff, too, on the record. I used an ESP on some things. I used some older Gibsons, too. I used a Flying V and like a ’68 SG. A bunch of random stuff.
Loren plays the ESP, which has a brighter tone to it. I use Les Pauls, which is like a heavier, darker sound. So the mixture is good. He uses completely different equipment than I do. He uses Mesa Boogie and ESPs, so we sound good together. It’s not like the same guitar.
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| "When you're sitting in a studio for 6 months with the same people, they can get on your nerves." |
Will there be a Vol. III?
I don’t want to say no for sure. It’s definitely not going to be the next one that we’re going to do. We’re definitely going to move on from that. This was a collection of stuff that he had prior. We wrote a bunch of new stuff, and we have a lot of stuff ready to go. So we’re going to do something completely different. Then sometime maybe in the future when we feel like we’ve got stuff that’s similar to this kind of thing again or we want to go in this direction again, we’re not leaving it out. But it’s not like a plan right now.
Is your newer material more rock-oriented like “Ten Ton Brick”?
No, not really. That’s just a random thing that just ended up working out great.
There’s a quote from J. Loren stating, “Hurt’s music has the power to save lives.” Can you sense that feeling from the fans?
I do. We get that a lot. A lot of people come up to us after shows and say that, or they’ll put in on their MySpace or our message board and say something like that to him. I guess for a lot of people, the lyrics parallel their lives and they really connect to that stuff - which is great. Those are fans that are really hardcore fans and they support us. It’s great. He says that because he gets a lot of that feedback.
There’s a section on Hurt’s message board where your tablature is also discussed. Do you visit that forum?
I check it occasionally. I mean, I’m not a big computer person, so I’m not really on the computer often. Every once in a while, I’ll go up there, check it out, and see what’s going on. I’ve seen some of the tablature and some of it is pretty close. Not exact, but pretty close!
Are you ever tempted to post a comment about the correct way to play your songs?
No, I prefer if people just try and figure it out. The more they play along with it, they’ll figure it out. There is really more than one way to play it. It’s just that I put my fingers in different spots. But yeah, it’s pretty close.
What’s in store for Hurt in the year ahead?
We’re touring up until Halloween. I don’t know what the plan is after that. We were planning on recording a DVD because we had recorded a bunch of stuff from the last tour. We had recorded a bunch of clips from us in the studio. I don’t know if this is actually going to happen, but we wanted to release Vol. I and Vol. II together as like a full set with a bunch of B-sides that didn’t make it on the record. We would include those, some acoustic performances from radio, some live performances, and some DVD footage. So you could buy both records and get an extra disk. That was our plan. We’ll see what happens.
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This band is freakin' awesome!!!! They are godly and are one the best bands ever. They are perfect live and really delve deep into the emotional realm of the human mind. Their lyrics are very poetic. Everyone can find something in their albums to relate to. Sure their stuff isn't normal or mainstream but it is musically ingenious and purely amazing. So don't go around judging other bands before you get to hear them. now pink floyd is great dont get me wrong but there is no way they can be better if they arent even in the same genre or category! Now if you need to know a band that truly sucks its gotta be Fall Out Boy or Hawthorn Heights or watever.
